Hike across the Visperterminen Hillside to the Highest Vineyard in Europe

Three-Day Trip to Visp Region in Canton Valais:

(Link to blog entry for DAY 1 is HERE)

We were lucky to have some very nice weather pretty well all over the country on the Easter weekend, so we treated ourselves to a two-night hotel stay in Canton Valais in the Visp region, because we were certain that there were many opportunities for hiking there.

Saturday April 3, 2021 -- Day 2 of our three-day trip: A Walk to the Highest Vineyard in Europe in Visperterminen

On our bus ride up to our hotel in Visperterminen the evening before, we passed a large vineyard and remembered that here in Visperterminen is the allegedly highest altitude vineyard in Europe (for sure it was until 2019) and decided that our next day's hike would start directly from our hotel, crossing the hillside on comfortable trails, visiting a handful of typical Valais villages, and ending with a walk down this vineyard.

Highlights of the day included more meadows of the Spring Meadow Saffron flowers (lots of white ones this time too); many sheep and goats (with lots of babies!) to gush over in their barns and pastures (including the local Valais black-nosed sheep which are the cutest sheep, and Valais black-necked goats as well); spectacular views up the Vispa/Matter Valley; an informational trail about the history of this area, and of course the fantastic St.Jodern vineyard which encompasses 45 hectares (35 of which are contiguous) over an altitude of 500 Meters (bottom = 650m, top = 1150m above sea level). The sunny exposure of this hillside and the generally warmer weather in Canton Valais are perfect conditions for the grapes to grow this high. (Additional interesting information about the area HERE)

A wine tasting at the St.Jodern wine cellars in Unterstalden is something we would have done as an exception (not big wine drinkers) but they were closed, so we purchased a bottle of this rather expensive wine when we got back home, still have yet to try it.

Interesting information: Visperterminen is called the "Heida Village", because the type of grapes grown in this area are called Heida (also known as Païen or Savagnin). Archeological finds point to these hills already having been settled by Celts, and wine was produced here in the middle ages as the main source of drink because water was hard to come by.

Early morning view out our hotel window. There were lots of low clouds actually, until about 11:30 a.m. when we started on our walk, which was OK because this side of the hill has shade until 9 a.m.

Before heading out onto the trails, we walked through one old part of Visperterminen Town, as our planned trail took us past the church anyway.

Such beautiful old buildings, each house is so unique

A main square

A few hundred years ago, folks were way smaller! (Although these small doors usually open up immediately to steps descending into the cellar)

From the church in Visperterminen, there is this fantastic view to the city of Visp in the Rhone Valley. The main mountain to the North, Mt. Bietschhorn, was hidden in cloud most of the day.

We had a nasty surprise along the way: This sign tells us that the trail where we planned to descend is closed until April 19th due to the construction on the main road. Alternatives meant backtracking quite a bit, and lots of kilometers on the main road. So we decided to head on down anyway and see if it wasn't at all possible to get through.

A look backwards at the town of Visperterminen as we head South along the trail

This time it was a pleasant surprise! We discovered several more meadows of "Lichtblumen" here, and this time there were lots of white ones as well!

In the background, Mt. Bietschhorn is still hidden in the clouds. The sign informs us that there is an old irrigation channel trail here, so we followed it to its end, but there was no channel and no water.

From above the main road where construction was taking place in this hairpin turn, we got this fantastic view up the Vispa Valley (next day's hike is at the center of this photo). If you continue down the right-hand valley, you reach Zermatt with world-famous mountain: The Matterhorn

Zoomed view of Mt.Weisshorn, a very prominent peak that you can see from far up the Rhone Valley to the East as well.

As it turns out, when we got down to the construction site (blue circle), the trail was totally removed at the hairpin turn, but we descended through some nearby meadows and didn't need to backtrack or detour in the end.

Continuing along the meadow trails, we rounded a corner and were surprised by this interesting-looking fellow

There was an enclosure here with lots of Valais Black-Necked Goats, who actually had free run of the hillside.

Here at the furthest south end of our trail we get another view up the Vispa Valley before heading North

Always lots of interesting clusters of little stables along the way

If there are stables near our trail, we always peek inside to see if there are animals, and are always thrilled when a Blacknose peeks back out!

In this little stable were lots of Blacknoses, and they all came out to say hello!

Next stop along the way: The village of Hinterhäusern. We passed by here on the bus the day before, and made sure our trail passed through here today.

Entering the village of Hinterhäusern

We found a good place in the sun here for our picnic lunch

Enjoying another good look at Mt. Weisshorn from our lunch spot.

Heading back through the village to continue on our hike

Continuing north along another very old irrigation channel (no longer in use) we look back on the village of Hinterhäusern and up the Vispa Valley

More cute sheep and lots of lambs. (There was one lamb who had obviously hurt its leg, and came over to us bleating to break your heart, but there was nothing we could do. The farmer usually checks the flock daily, and he'll have to decide how bad the injury is...)

The next village we passed through just before the vineyard is Oberstalden

There were lots of these pretty streetlamps in the old villages

Looking at the houses in Oberstalden before continuing on to the vineyard

A first glimpse of the 45-hectares of vineyard through the bushes.

To get to the top of the vineyard, we still had to walk 30 minutes through forest and across this typical dry Valais landscape

Panorama view of the entire vineyard from our trail (Also below is the new freeway they have been working on for a few years already, which cuts right through the mountains here to bypass the towns in the Rhone Valley below)

Close-up view of the many terraces in this vineyard.

Here we are at the very top of the highest vineyard in Europe! From here we walked down to the hairpin turn in the road below, where we caught the bus back up to our hotel in Visperterminen.

Panorama view southward of the vineyard and the hillside that we walked across to get here.

And to our North, a short break in the clouds and we can finally see Mt. Bietschhorn (3934m), the prominent peak to the North of the city of Visp

Heading down along the zigzag road through the vineyard; here we get a glimpse of the city of Visp which is located at the entrance to the Vispa Valley

Walking down through the highest vineyard in Europe

We had actually planned to continue toward Visp along the bottom section of the vineyard, but the sun was near setting, so we waited here for the bus, pretending we were drinking that glass of Heida Wine!

Some very pretty late afternoon lighting on the forest here, with lots of new spring greens!

Here is the ground we covered (almost 11 km) across the hillside below Visperterminen

Back in Visperterminen, before heading straight back to our hotel, we walked around another old part of the town. This was an interesting discovery: A display of old beehive boxes dating from 1710 to 2000!