Discover Germany | Special Theme | Focus on Munich - The City's Highlights of 2019
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A culinary journey through one of Austria’s best wine regions The Schilcherland in Styria is an ideal travel destination for people who enjoy good food and wines. As well as the vineyards producing the traditional and wellknown Schilcher wine, the region convinces with its first-class restaurants and many small, regional producers. The landscape, with its rolling hills, can be easily explored by bike and foot. TEXT: JESSICA HOLZHAUSEN
Situated south of the Alps and under the influence of the Mediterranean weather, it means that even in early spring, holidaymakers can enjoy the Schilcherland on vast hiking tours and cycle trips – along clear streams and green hills, through woods and vineyards, where the grapes for the Schilcher wine are grown, which has given the region its name. A traditional way to explore the area is by Flascherlzug (www.flascherlzug.at), a narrow-gauge railway great for railway enthusiasts, while the tractor museum (www.traktormuseum.at) offers a more unusual tour: by historic tractor through the Schilcherland. 36 | Issue 73 | April 2019
It is not only very easy to explore the landscape by bike, but also to cycle from one taste experience to another. The E-Bike-Box is a revolutionary e-bike renting system in Styria: at 20 different spots, six to ten bikes are stored in wooden containers, which users can book online (www.ebike-box.com). That makes the exploration of vineyards and local attractions even easier. Wine tasting and regional traditions The Schilcher wine pours into the glass a pale ruby colour. Made 100 per cent out of grapes from Blauer Wildbacher vines, Schilcher, since the middle of the 1970s,
has been a protected name for wine from this region. The vintners here produce first-class wine on an area totalling 600 hectares in size. With a lot of sunshine in summer – south-west Styria is also named the Toscana of Austria – and the necessary cool nights in early autumn, the Schilcherland has the ideal conditions needed. “We have outstanding vineyards,” says Ewald Zarfl from the Schilcherland Styria tourism board. “No lower quality wine can be found anywhere around here.” The ‘Schilcherweinstraße‘ (Schilcher wine route) passes through Ligist, Gundersdorf, St. Stefan, Greisdorf, Staint, Vochera, Bad Gams, Schloss Wildbach, Deutschlandsberg, Schwanberg and Wies, and ends in Eibiswald. St. Stefan is the largest wine-growing municipality around here. Wine lovers and curious people can try the different varieties of Schilcher wine in one of the so called Buschenschänken – wine