Day 27 - Svecina to Ehrenhausen, Austria.

Day 27. Svecina to Ehrenhausen Austria. 14 km, 1:30

We had a late start this morning as our host at the wine farm only arrived at 08:00 to open the garage where our bikes spent the night. We were expecting breakfast, but there was nothing forthcoming; fortunately we had some bread, cheese, salami and apples left over from lunch yesterday!

Just as we were leaving the owner called us to meet a wine journalist and wine expert, Darja Zemljic, from Ljubljana. She is writing an article about the Podravje region (Northern Slovenian wine area) and was very interested  to hear our opinion on Slovenian wine. We have been very impressed by the Slovenian wines which have been mostly from the Podravje region close to the Austrian border. She may also mention that we are cycling to raise funds for rhino conservation in her article, which will be cool.

Ian spent a long time plotting the route we were to take today. The map has a route that goes pretty much straight up into Austria.There is no information on what the road is like; is it is too steep for cyclists and is it paved? Our host said that it is paved and so we decided on the steeper shorter route. After a short steep descent from the winery we turned left and started riding up an 18% climb which was hectic, as we had not warmed up yet and had never climbed such a steep hill with our panniers. We ended up pushing our bikes for the last 20 meters. Fortunately we only climbed for 1km before we reached the Austrian border, which was a non event. If we hadn't seen the big EU Austrija sign we wouldn't have known we were in Austria. Here one half of the road is in Austria and the other in Slovenia - so little separating them. 

We had a lovely downhill all the way to Spielfeldt where we joined the Murradweg - a bicycle track that runs along the Mur river from Bad Radkersberg through Graz, almost all the way to Salzburg. What a pleasure to cycle through beautiful forests and not have to worry about vehicular traffic. 

We arrived in Ehrenhausen where we are staying for the night, at about 11:00. Our  accommodation was locked up, as most places close on a Monday and Tuesday in Austria. 

As this is the Steiermark wine growing region of Austria, we cycled out towards Berghausen and stopped at the Vinotech Haus Regele where Thomas gave us an excellent tasting of their wines. They make a large selection and we tasted most of them including the Welschriesling (WWS 7), Scheurebe, Gelber Muskateller, Rheinriesling (WWS 8), two Sauvignon Blancs from different vineyards, a Pinot Noir and a Pinot Noir sparkling wine. The wines are fresh and made to drink early. We found the Welschriesling, which was new to us, interesting. It is similar to a Rheinriesling, with a little less minerality on the palate - a good lunch time wine. On leaving, Thomas kindly gave us a bottle of their excellent Rheinriesling. We really have experienced good reception at the wineries we have visited on our trip.

Eherenhausen is watched over by the beautiful baroque style church the Pffarkirche on Markt Pflaz. Our guest house, Apartements am Markt Pflaz is right next door so we hope the ringing bell won't keep us awake. 

The imposing mausoleum of Rubbrecht von Eggenberg (1546-1611), hero of the battle of Sisak against the Turks, is on top of the hill and affords beautiful views of the village and  the adjoining farmlands.

We had a good supper in a small restaurant, The Golden Crown, where we had our annual quota of trans-fats, all washed down with some suitably acidic Welschriesling house-wine (WWS 4).

Early morning from Valdhuber Winery

Too steep, too early. This one beat us!

Hello Austria.

First view of the Steiermark winelands.

The sign to follow for the next few days.

No traffic - what a pleasure.

Clematis in Eherenhausen. 

Wine tasting with Thomas at Regele Winery

Part of their extensive range we tasted.

Rosa Blairy No 2 against Regele Winery.