Franconian Wine

“Send me another Würzburg wine because no other tastes as fine.” – J.W. v. Goethe

In the North-West of Bavaria, Franconia is one of the great German wine making regions. Among the most enthusiastic amateurs of its wines was nobody less than Goethe, who wrote those words to his wife. The Würzburger Stein is one of the most renowned vineyards in the Franconian district and is being grown in the heart of the old city of Würzburg, on the slopes of the Marienberg mountain. 

The bottle the wine is usually sold in has a specific form, called Bocksbeutel, a somewhat flattened ellipsoid that contains exactly the same volume of wine as other bottles, i.e. 0.75 Liters. It is said to be derived from ancient peasant habits: on the one hand, a flattened bottle was easier to carry around, and on the other hand, once put down, it did not roll around in the fields as easily as round bottles… 

The growing of wine influenced the lifestyle of the people living in the area, with numerous wine celebrations every year in Franconian towns. Unlike many other German wine regions, a large amount of Franconian wine is drunk in the area where it is produced.