Autumn is my absolute favorite season, and Stuttgart is stunning in the fall.  The air turns crisp in the morning and evenings, we get spectacular sunrise and sunsets, I light candles every night for dinner, and am most inspired in the kitchen whipping up cosy meals of butternut squash, sage, sweet potatoes, and all of the savory goodness!  My favorite fall weekend activity is walking through the vineyards around harvest time and we did just that this weekend in the town’s surrounding Stuttgart, with some Besen stops mixed in for extra fun!

We are so lucky to live in and around vineyards. Stuttgart and the surrounding towns are full of them, and we also have some great wine regions a few hour drive away like the Alsace, Mosel Valley, or even Burgundy and Barbaresco if you drive a little further. But there’s no need to drive for hours, you can enjoy the vines right here in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim. Sometimes we make a picnic amongst the vines, and other times we just stroll and enjoy each others company.  This weekend we decided to just enjoy ourselves, but it happened to be the Stuttgart Wein Safari weekend – what a happy coincidence!

Now we know that the third weekend in September every year is the Stuttgart Wein Safari through the vineyards of Untertürkheim, Uhlbach, and Obertürkheim.  There are about 6 wine stops throughout the trails and you can either hike it like we did, or the city provides a cute shuttle for a small fee.  It is about 12km to walk the entire way and it is so peaceful, I highly recommend walking if you are able. Wine safari or not, the hike is still magical!

 

First, Train to Untertürkheim

The easiest way to get to the vineyards is take the S1 towards Kircheim to Untertürkheim.  First off, I’d like to point out that Untertürkheim is so wonderful and if I were to move to Stuttgart again, I would highly consider living here!

The town is so quaint and you could literally walk out your back door to hike the vineyards year round.  You can also access other towns via the vineyards.  Every time I visit, I can’t help but think how idyllic it would be!

We walked past colorful old houses, ivy walls, and vineyards as far as the eye can see… literally my perfect town!  Some of the vintners have already started the harvest, and we saw a few trucks unloading the grapes into the wine presses as we strolled by.

Right now almost all of the grapes we saw haven’t been harvested yet.  It’s the perfect time to visit if you want to see the juicy, full grapes!  Later in the season after they’ve been harvested, the leaves will change shades of orange, yellow, and green and the views are spectacular.  You can’t go wrong throughout the next few months!

Then Walk Through the Vineyards…

Once you reach the vineyards, the hills provide some pretty spectacular views. I don’t know why, but walking through the pretty vines just makes me so happy! The Germans have a word for this activity called Weinwanderung or wine hiking. They already knew it is so nice to do!

 

…To the Besens!

Are you familiar with besenwirtschaften in Germany? They were new to me upon moving to Stuttgart but are my new favorite hang out spot. A besenwirtschaft literally translates to broom economic pub, which might sounds very confusing! It’s a term used when a local winery opens a kind of restaurant selling their local wines (and only their wines – no Bier here!) and homemade meals.  The besenwirtschaft is allowed to be open for up to 12 weeks per year, so to inform the townspeople they are open for business the winery owners hang a besen or broom outside. Perhaps because they are done sweeping out the old space and are now ready for a new wave of visitors?

When you spot a broom hanging on the side of the road, get excited because you’re in for a treat! The atmosphere is always filled with Gemütlichkeit: cheerful coziness. The wine is local and usually served by the Viertel, or quarter liter, and the food is usually homemade.  Besens are open for a few weeks at a time, so be sure to look for the broom or check the besentermine calendar to make sure they’re open before you head to one!

To be honest I had almost forgotten about the Besens, but to my delight there were a few open during the Wein Safari. Excellent! Our first stop was at Besen Zaiss.  It is the cutest spot with outdoor garten tables and views over the Bad Canstatt and Stuttgart cities!  They also had orange wine here, which is white wine that has a little contact with the skins and seeds to give it a little more flavor and color. This particular besen was my favorite from the day as the scene was so gorgeous!   I just love how in Stuttgart they’ll provide the biergarten benches on the floor for you to open up and set out wherever you please.  I chose a nice spot right underneath the grapes!  Happy girl. 🙂

Our second stop on the Wein Safari was Weingut Warth.  They aren’t a besen, but that means they are open throughout the year (Saturdays 10:00 – 16:00!).  It was a wonderful little winery again with outdoor seating.  I got rose sekt here and it was fabulous!

And our last stop was at Currle’s weinbesen in Uhlbach.  To get there, you will walk past the Grabkapelle and down the hill towards Uhlbach.  They had a fun atmosphere here, and again a really nice sekt.  They are big on both wine and sekt here!  We ended up getting a käsespäztle dinner at Currle’s (do you remember they were actually my favorite tent at the Weindorf?) and then walked through Obertürkheim to hop on the S-bahn back to Stuttgart.

I hope you are inspired to hike the vineyards this season in Stuttgart!!  I will be trying out new Besens this year as well! Cheers!

xx