|
|
|
|
 |
|
By
Mark Atchison
KOBLENZ,
GERMANY — This country has two things
golfers love — wine and beer.
Talk about an intoxicating destination.
And all roads here seem to lead to breweries,
bars and wineries, and one, the Fatherland's
famed Wine Route, takes you past some of
Germany's best golf courses, as well.
The
Wine Route also borders two of Europe's
most famous rivers, the Rhine and Moselle,
on whose slopey shores the bulk of Germany's
wines are grown. So, without much arm twisting,
I was convinced recently to pack my clubs
and board a plane bound for Frankfurt, the
financial capital of Germany and the starting
point for our Wine Route golf tour.
It
doesn't take long to get a round in after
we land — the Golfplatz (that's the
German word for golf course) Hahn is right
next door to Frankfurt's international airport
and the 9-hole course provides us with a
quick practice round on flat fairways cut
through a natural wooded area that provides
us with some spectacular views. It's a nice
introduction to golf in the land of Bernard
Langer.
The
Wine Route winds its way through lush landscape,
past neatly kept vineyards and charming
medieval towns like Koblenz, Trier —
the country's oldest city — Bernkastle,
Bingen and Bacharach — the place where
American composer Burt Bacharach hails from.
Each
of the towns along the way offer a variety
of golf challenges and lots of wineries,
where golfers are welcome to stay in guest
houses that cost much less than hotels and
offer visitors a chance to sample some of
the local hospitality. One such place is
the Markus Fries Vineyard, in quaint
Noviand, where golfers can enjoy a glass
of sekt — Germany's answer to champagne
— or Marcus Fries' award-winning Riesling
while sampling hearty cuts of meat cooked
over an open flame fuelled by vine shavings.
The Fries produce 16,000 bottles of wine
annually and are just one of the region's
many small producers.
|
 |
|
Trier
Club
|
 |
|
Trier
Clubhouse
|
 |
|
Markus
Fries Vineyard
|
|
Golf
in this area can be found in Trier,
the ancient walled city with the famous
Porta Negra (Black Gates), where Karl
Marx was born and which boasts three
quality courses nearby: Baustert,
Bitburger and the Trier
Club. The Trier course is framed
by woodlands and vineyards and its
spacious fairways offer many different
challenges. The course is spread out
over gently undulating countryside
in a beautiful tributary valley of
the Moselle. The Baustert course is
located in the picturesque Eifel region
and although it's a compact 9-holes,
it offers some big thrills. The Bitburger
layout nearby is part of a golf resort
complex that would not look out of
place on this side of the ocean.
After
a round, historic Trier and its Roman
ruins is a great place to explore
and the local winery, called Stiftung
Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium. This
winery is housed in an old school
house which Marx attended as a child.
A few glasses of this sweet but potent
wine and you're ready to start a revolution.
Along
the Rhine portion of the Wine Route
we discovered Bacharach, which is
more famous for its fairy tale charm
than being Burt Bacharach's family
homestead. The courses here are called
the Nathetal and Donnersberg and both
fall under the heading "championship"
in every way. Our favourite was Donnersberg,
which was carved out of the Donnersberg
hill by noted European architect Donald
Harradine. The course is quality golf
in every respect and the panoramic
views of the awesome Rhineland Plain
one gets from tee boxes and greens
is simply breathtaking.
Nahetal
is located in the beautiful Nahe Valley,
which produces some of the sweetest
vintages in the world. So, if the
unadulating greens and fairways at
Nahetal prove too challenging for
you, just remember there's a glass
of Nahe Valley wine waiting for you
at the clubhouse.
|
|
|
The
ancient castles — many dating back
to the 1200s — that line the Wine Route
and rivers have been modernized and can
be rented by golf groups or even a couple
of North American duffers like us and the
experience can be quite unique. In Loelei,
one of the most mythical places in all Germany
and close to Bacharach's courses, we discovered
the Schloss Schoenborn Winery after a round
and descended into a 500-year-old cellar
where the oldest known bottle of Riesling,
dating back to 1735, sat on a dusty shelf
waiting to be drunk.
As
we proceeded to Koblenz, the final stop
on our golf tour, we passed through romantic
Bernkastle — think Disney's Magic Kingdom
— and pulled a few stines in one of
the charming local bars where beer, not
wine, rules.
We
saved the best of our German golf experiences
for last — the Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler
Course and its stunning views of the Ahr
Valley and Eifel hill. The course is pure
magic, with sloping greens and tight fairways.
Homes that look like mini-castles line the
fairways and the conditions here are equal
to anything you'll find in more established
European golf destinations.
Koblenz is where the Rhine and Moselle rivers
become one and where the final glass of
wine we enjoy in the city square once occupied
by Allied soldiers during World War II,
is a fitting end to another memorable golf
and wine tour.
Maybe,
the Germans should consider renaming their
Wine Route the "Golf and Wine Route".
|
|
|
|
|
|
