Baden Wine Region

Baden runs for several hundred kilometres down the German side of the Rhine plain, from the Bodensee up to the Kraichgau, and it is the country's warmest wine region, warm enough to be grouped with Alsace in the European climate zones rather than with the rest of Germany. The grapes follow the heat: Spatburgunder above all, with Grauburgunder and Weissburgunder behind it, and Gutedel grown almost only in the Markgraflerland in the south. The Kaiserstuhl is the set piece, an old volcanic stump standing alone in the plain, its slopes recut into vast loess terraces where the soil holds warmth like a storage brick. Cooperatives are unusually strong here, so much of the region is tasted through village cellars.

What you actually see

• The Kaiserstuhl terraces - loess slopes recut into wide steps on an isolated volcanic hill.
• Spatburgunder - German Pinot Noir at its ripest, the region's signature red.
• Markgraflerland Gutedel - a light, low-acid white grown almost nowhere else in the country.
• Hollow loess lanes - sunken tracks cut deep into the soft pale soil between vineyards.

When to go

May to October, with harvest through September and October and village wine festivals clustered in late summer. The Kaiserstuhl gets genuinely hot in July and August, when walking the loess lanes at midday is unpleasant. Cooperative cellars keep regular hours, while small independent growers usually need an appointment arranged in advance.

Honest expectations

It is a long, thin region with no single centre, so touring it means real driving or a lot of train changes, and driving after tastings is not an option. The best Spatburgunder is expensive and much of it never leaves the area. Summer heat sits heavy in the Rhine plain, and mosquitoes near the river are a real nuisance at dusk.

Nearby

Freiburg's old town and its water channels, the western edge of the Black Forest and the Rhine plain nature reserves.