Spiez Winery - Roman-era wine in a lakeside castle

How to Complete

4 steps curated by Wine Memories

1. 📜 1

   Arrive by Lake, the Way Every Important Visitor Has Since the Year 900

   history $$

   Spiez Castle has stood on this peninsula since the 9th century. Every bishop, knight, and wine merchant who mattered arrived by water. The road is faster. The boat is how you understand what this place is.

   As the BLS boat rounds the bay from Thun (1 hour) or Interlaken West (45 minutes), the castle appears on a peninsula jutting into Lake Thun — the Bernese Alps rising behind it, the vineyard running straight down the hillside to the water's edge. This is the view that made medieval bishops choose Spiez as a residence, and you're approaching exactly as they did, except you have a ticket that costs CHF 25-40 instead of a war fleet. Board at Thun or Interlaken West station, sit on the right side facing Spiez for the castle approach. As you enter Spiez bay, the vineyard — 13 hectares, second largest in Canton Bern — terraces down from the castle to the water.

   🔄 BACKUP: Train from Interlaken to Spiez (20 minutes, CHF 12) plus 10-minute walk to the castle. The boat is the experience; the train is logistics. Do the boat if you have any flexibility at all.

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2. 📜 2

   Walk the Vineyard Trail That Began in 994 AD

   history Free

   The year 994: a monk wrote down that vineyards existed at Spiez, cultivating Elbling and Thunrebe (now called Räuschling). The Romans almost certainly planted here before that. The trail through these vines is completely free, and it hasn't changed much.

   This hillside has been producing wine continuously for over 1,000 years of documented history, likely 2,000+ if you include the Romans. The Elbling grape mentioned in 994 — it's still grown here, and you can find that vine. The free Spiez Vineyard Sensory Adventure Trail (starting near Schloss Spiez) walks you through 12 numbered information boards covering the complete wine year, with six sensory stations to smell vine bark, rub grape leaves, feel the soil. Allow 1-2 hours, follow brown vineyard trail signs from the castle gate. At sensory station 3 or 4, ask the QR code film about the original 994 varieties. Look north across Lake Thun from the upper vineyard: on clear days, you see 30 kilometers across the Bernese Oberland.

   🔄 BACKUP: If the informational boards are in German only (older boards are mixed), the trail is navigable by logic — the vineyard, the lake, the castle, the Alps. You don't need words for what you're standing in.

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3. 🍷 3

   Ride the Mini Blue Train Into the 11th-Century Castle Cellar

   wine $

   The Spügli is a small blue train that trundles around Spiez with a wine expert on board, ending inside the castle cellar where wine has been made continuously since the 11th century. It's 30 Swiss francs. It's extraordinary.

   The 'Alpine Wine Cultur-Train' (CHF 30/person, book at alpineweinkultur.ch) takes you by mini blue train into the 11th-century castle cellar — the same stones mortared when William the Conqueror was crossing the English Channel. Tours run weekends Easter to October starting 11am, descending into cellars where 80,000 bottles are produced annually: Blauburgunder (Pinot Noir), Chasselas, Elbling, Räuschling, and Barrique-aged Pinot Noir that ages 10+ years. Ask your guide specifically about the Elbling grape: one of Switzerland's oldest varieties, noted in the 994 document, still grown in these vines today. Taste it separately if possible - crisp, high-acid, unlike any Chasselas.

   🔄 BACKUP: If the train tour is fully booked, the castle wine shop (inside Schloss Spiez, open April-October during museum hours) sells the full range for tasting. A bottle of Spiez Chasselas (CHF 18-25) on the castle terrace overlooking Lake Thun is its own complete experience.

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4. 🍷 4

   Taste the Wine That Has Outlasted Empires

   wine $$

   You're in the cellar where Swiss wine history is physically present. The Elbling grape in your glass is genetically identical to the variety recorded here in 994 AD. Romans may have brought the ancestor of these vines from the Rhine Valley. Drink that.

   After your cellar tour, carry a glass out to the castle terrace and sit facing Lake Thun. Ask for: 1) Räuschling (was Thunrebe in 994 — local name for the same grape, high acid, mineral, not found anywhere else in Switzerland at altitude); 2) Blauburgunder standard (Lake Thun expression Pinot Noir — lighter than Burgundy, more mineral); 3) Blauburgunder Barrique (French oak-aged, 10+ year aging potential, CHF 22-35/bottle). The Alps are directly behind the castle to the south — on clear days you see the Eiger. This is the pivot point: adrenaline behind you (Grindelwald), 1,000-year wine continuity beneath you, the lake before you. Drink slowly, read nothing for 10 minutes, let the place compound.

   🔄 BACKUP: The Spiez village Coop and Migros stock Spiez wine for picnic use. The farm shop on alpineweinkultur.ch ships within Switzerland.

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