Franconia home to venerable vineyards, handsome buildings

By Jens Golombek Sep 21, 2010, 13:24 GMT

Wuerzburg, Germany - Germany's national poet Goethe knew a good thing when he tasted it. He used to have wine sent to him specially from the Wuerzburger Stein vineyard, still the most celebrated in Franconia.

To this day, Germany's second-largest vinery, the Juliuspital, also profits from a eulogy to its grapes penned by the great poet and author of the Sorrows of Young Werther. After all, he was once its most prominent customer.

Another parcel of vineyard perfection can be found at the Julius-Echter-Berg on the steep slopes of the Schwanberg, 30 kilometres east of Wuerzburg. The charming town of Iphofen lies at its feet.

Caskets of wine are despatched from vineyards here to illustrious customers all over the world. The list of clients includes Britain's Queen Elizabeth II along with Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Pope Benedict XVI.

Wine tourism has brought prosperity with it, lending a symbolic quality to the vinotheque or wine-tasting store in the centre of town. The handsome, four-storey building is located in the original Traufhaus and features a handsome barrel-vaulted cellar. The modern pavilion extension with its steel buttresses and large expanses of glass fits in well with the half-timbered building which dates back to the 17th century.

The days when wine lovers had to traipse from one winery to another in order to sample their wares are long gone. 'We can offer tastings of 70 different white and red varieties,' said Heidrun Kaufmann who runs the local 'Vinothek.'

The living in Iphofen was not always this easy and during a guided tour with Claudia Bellanti the sometimes grim medieval history of the town comes to life. In front of St Michael's Chapel she pauses for a moment. 'Press the button next to the gate,' she tells her charges. Instead of the customary bell a light goes on in a little window. Hundreds of bones and skulls were found in a crypt here, all piled up on top of each another. 'The remains have been dated back to the late medieval period.'

Bellanti has other tales to tell and clearly enjoys regaling visitors with the gruesome details. 'The slender round tower known as the Eulenturm is often referred to as the 'rotten tower' since those jailed for life were left to decompose in their cells.'

After a guided tour like this the visitor is inclined to thank his lucky stars that we live in a more civilised age. Ideally suited to a genteel lifestyle is Muensterschwarzach Abbey which can trace its origins back to 780.

The imposing edifice with its four slender spires rises above fertile fields close to the banks of the river Main.

The present building was erected from 1935 to 1938 and is the only ecclesiastical building of its size to have been built during the Third Reich era. The monks were only able to worship here for three years before the Nazis dissolved the abbey and expelled the religious order.

The many wayside shrines among the vineyards downriver demonstrate the close contemporary links between the people of this rural area and their religious beliefs. The route past the wine-making centres of Sommerach and Nordheim leads through picturesque countryside with elegant wine bars amid slopes clothed with grape vines. The construction of the Main Canal has left the two communities perched alone, as if on an island.

The Main river takes its natural course westwards past sandy shoals and verdant green banks. It is a paradise for wildlife and conveys some idea of how the area must have looked before man began to shape the environment. In Volkach, where the canal rejoins the Main, medieval times collide with the present day. A new bridge planned to span the waters in the Astheim district of the pretty town from 2011 onwards is a bold steel construction which is not without its local detractors.