Sevärdheter i vinregionerna

Vinodlarkooperativens vagga ligger i Mayschoss i floddalen Ahr. Det var här som 18 vinodlare skrev vinhistoria när de grundade världens första vinodlarkooperativ den 20 december 1868.

One of the smallest but finest winegrowing regions in Germany is the Ahr. Wine has been grown in the Ahr valley since Roman times. Today, red wine varieties in particular, such as Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) and Frühburgunder thrive on the steep, often terraced and perfectly exposed sites, and produce high-quality wines.

Marienthal, the oldest monastery in the Ahr River Valley, was founded in 1137 near Dernau. In its heyday, it was run by Augustinian nuns, whose life was anything but easy.

“Anyone who thinks wine anew also thinks architecture anew.” Architect Hans-Jürgen Mertens from Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler followed this principle with the new tasting room of the Weingut Jean Stodden.

In the Kaiserstuhl region, one may initially assume it’s volcanic rock. But since the Ice Age, there have also been layers of loess, up to 30 metres thick, deposited. Loess of this thickness is found almost exclusively here in this area. Loess is an aeolian sediment that was brought here by the wind.

Time and again, German viticulture has produced influential personalities who have played a defining role in its development. Many names are only familiar to a few today, while their innovations or discoveries are often taken for granted and not given much thought.

They are legendary, and they draw flocks of tourists every year, even though there’s only one remaining specimen on display: the four great wine casks of Heidelberg castle.

Since July 2016, the Vineum Bodensee has enriched the cultural offering of the town. The 400-year old historic building, which has been elaborately and lovingly converted into a museum for the senses, now offers an interactive and sensory tour of the cultural history of wine.

In Ihringen, vines grow on the sloping remains of a 15-million-old, extinct volcano in the district known as the Kaiserstuhl. Winklerberg hill has everything an old volcano can offer: two lava flows, as well as porous lava chunks (pumice) and agglomerates from eruptions.

Germany's southernmost vineyards are cultivated on Reichenau, an island in Lake Constance, now a World Heritage Site. Today, it is better known as the "vegetable island", but for centuries, viticulture was the economic basis of the island’s farmers.

The warm reddish brown Weingut Abril in Bischoffingen, stands out against the rich green of the surrounding vineyards. The upper floors of this futuristic winery blend into the hillside of Enselberg, one of the top locations in the Kaiserstuhl region.

April 6, 1659 was a milestone in the history of the Franconian village of Castell: Johann Georg Körner had new vines planted at the foot of the Schlossberg. Not just any vines, but rather “25 Austrian cuttings”, namely Silvaner.