Cochem - Reichsburg Castle, Wine Tasting and a Wine Fest

Our second day in Cochem was forecast to be warm so we breakfasts early and caught the 10.30 bus up to Reichsburg Castle. It stands so tall above the town and to our amazement the bus took the route through the narrow cobbled streets of the town centre. 

Visiting the castle is only allowed in tour groups, the English tour was 11.30 so we had quite a while to wait in the scorching sun. My super parasol was very much needed! 

I'm not sure I understood all the history even though our tour was in English. It was a medieval castle that was damaged during the Palarine War of Succession. In the 1800s Louis Ravené bought and rebuilt the castle in the romantic neo-Gothic style it is today. The oldest part of the building can be seen at the base of the tower and the painting high on the wall is St. Christopher.

Inside were many rooms, some surprisingly small but highly decorated. The old wooden furniture was very impressive, especially the box style cabinets built on legs. 

The castle was certainly a beautiful building with amazing views up and down the Mosel river. 

Weingut Haxel offer a six wine tasting, what better way to spend an afternoon. We chose their trocken, dry, range and had great fun discovering more about Mosel wine. Afterwards I decided to try a halb-trocken, medium, wine and Hubby tired a Spatburgunder red, known to us as Pinot Noir. As our guest house owners, and winemaker, were busy with the Wine Fest preparations his parents were serving in the Weinslube. 

It really was a super afternoon sitting under the vines. We hadn't realised until later that his father had been the local wine president, no wonder he was enjoying telling us about the vineyard and his travels when he was the winemaker. We were also treated to a glass of sparkling red made from the Regent grape and a glass of sparkling rose made from Spatburgunder.

Our final evening in Cochem was the opening night of the Wine Festival. We had no idea what to expect other than we had seen the wine huts being set up for each local area and the stage for live music. The official opening was 6.30 but wine was served from 4pm so we wandered down in time to have our wine for the opening.

What a super surprise, there was a militia parade of wine majesties with maids young and old following the drummers. All told 12 winemakers offered their wines and after the official speeches the wine flowed until 1am, accompanied by a trio singing live, songs everyone joined in with. 

I had intended to edit the video but it really shows how the town was celebrating their first wine week since 2019. The crowd, the drummers and everyone in the parade had such a great time, Hubby and I loved it.

Video link - https://youtu.be/cU3zIC2D81s

We had a super time in Cochem, met some lovely people, enjoyed good food and great wine: a great start to our Mosel holiday.