Cochem

Romantic medieval Cochem is immersed in Germany’s oldest wine making region. The town offers colorful, restored, half-timbered buildings with slate roofs tucked into narrow lanes and twisted alleys. Moselaners are a European melting pot of not only Germans, but Vikings, Celt Irish, southern Italian, French and Greek.

Mosel’s wines, renowned for millennia, include sparkling wines and low alcohol, fruity Rieslings, with mineral influences from limestone and slate soils.

Germany’s oldest wine store, Old Thorschenke, mentioned in many Mosel wine guides, also includes a traditional inn with hearty Moselle dishes like venison and Eifel mountain trout. Don’t miss the ancient vaulted cellars of 500 year old Baron von Landsberg estate winery, right on the Mosel Promenade.

Try a chair lift ride to the Pinnerkreuz, a short walk from Familienweingut Rademacher, a typical family vineyard. Hike downhill through their vineyards, enjoying spectacular views of the tightly looping Mosel River below. They offer tastings of their traditional, bottle-fermented sparkling wines and winery tours, as do other nearby wineries.

Mosel Promenade, a paved bike and pedestrian riverside trail, offers many benches for relaxation stops. Eifel and Hunsrück areas are nearby hiker’s paradises. Several close, preplanned hiking routes are downloadable with maps and difficulty ratings. 10th century Reichsburg Castle’s pointed towers overlook Cochem’s picturesque vineyards, forests and river valley. Completely destroyed in 1689, it was meticulously rebuilt in the 1870’s.

Sample the year’s new wine at November’s, New Wine Festival and enjoy shopping food and music at the Christmas Market during the December’s Advent season.