Travel tip: Renchtal - Oberkirch - Grimmelshausen
In the vineyards after the wine harvest they say: If the Oexle are right - that's the percentage!
A trip to Oberkirch-Tiergarten and Ödsbach in the Renchtal
Oberkirch in Renchtal. In just over two hours and 45 minutes, if everything is free, you can be in Renchtal. Admittedly, the journey through the countryside can seem long when the motorway is full. It takes us towards Augsburg, Ulm, Stuttgart, Baden-Baden and a little further towards Basel. On the way to the Renchtal then on smaller roads. It goes through Achern, Ulm - what we mean here is the well-known “beer village of Ulm” - Haslach and past Tiergarten with the Ullenburg and on towards Oberkirch. - The Ullenburg, which was first mentioned in the Oberkirch archive documents in 1070, was demolished in the late 18th century, and stone walls can still be found here and there in the houses in the area. - On the route through the Renchtal you get a nice insight into the local agriculture: initially there are corn fields and herds of white cows on lush green meadows, but a flood of fruit trees changes the overall impression. Green vineyards still appear here and there on the edge. They romantically border the valley around the River Rench.
 |
| Rest in the vineyards at the Ullenburg - towards the horizon you will find Strasbourg, Photo: Helga Waess |
The Oexle are right! That's the percentage!
You drive through the villages with their old, stone wine farms. These are mostly still in sand and pink colors. Every now and then you can still find those romantic half-timbered houses on the side of the road, in front of which there are often fruit farmers' self-service tables. Apples, pears and raspberries herald early autumn.
September is coming to an end and the grape harvest is almost a thing of the past. Golden yellow and red grapes will make the 2024 vintage an excellent vintage again. The Oexle are right! That's the percentage! ... and wine hikers appreciate the wineries' rooms!
The vines are in a trellis
When we arrived, it was evening. The vines are in long lines up and down the hill. Here and there a bird of prey with long wings circles. Little nervous bats fight over the fattest mosquitoes. A fox scurries underground.
The moon soon triumphs over the orange-red sun, which is about to sink into the horizon behind the Vosges. The 142-meter-high tower of the Strasbourg Cathedral, backlit, just announces a remnant of the distant city backdrop before everything is plunged into dark night.
 |
| At the top of the vineyard - view towards Strasbourg and Vosges, photo: Helga Waess |
It's quiet when you walk through the vines at night
Like a glimmer of hope, the stars above the illuminated ruins of theSchauburg herald the next sunny day. The ruins of theSchauburg were a so-called spur castle and lie on the slope high above Oberkirch-Gaisbach. It was built from 1070 by Duke Berthold II of Zähringen.
It's quiet when you walk through the vines at night. The wind alone moves the rustling leaves of the chestnut trees that crown the vineyard.
You involuntarily take a deep breath. A mild, “very good” air quality, as the mobile phone announced in the afternoon, relaxes us now, after the idyllic journey.
The poet Grimmelshausen lived in Oberkirch-Gaisbach from 1649 to 1668
The sunrise over the Renchtal, which is named after the River Rench, which winds its way through the greenery, delights every vineyard hiker.
There, in Oberkirch, where Grimmelshausen wrote his “Simplicissimus” in 1669. J. J. Christoph von Grimmelshausen was one of the most famous poets of the Baroque period. Here, where Grimmelshausen left his mark as a bailiff and innkeeper, many corners are reminiscent of the exciting history of that time.
The city of Oberkirch was under the rule of the Bishop of Strasbourg from 1303 to 1803.
In the old town hall, which serves as a Grimmelshausen and local history museum, among other things, a first edition of the novel “The Abentheuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch” (sic!) is on display. The poet Grimmelshausen lived in Oberkirch-Gaisbach from 1649 to 1668 - where you can still be treated to good food and local grape drinks in his inn to this day.
