schiller-wine: Tour and Tasting at the Historic Weingut Juliusspital in Würzburg, Franken - Germany-East Tour 2017 by ombiasy WineTours

Thursday, March 29, 2018

Tour and Tasting at the Historic Weingut Juliusspital in Würzburg, Franken - Germany-East Tour 2017 by ombiasy WineTours

Picture: Tour and Tasting at Weingut Juliusspital in Würzburg, Franken.

Juliusspital is Germany’s second largest winery with 180 hectares under vines in the most renowned sites of Franken, and one of the always top rated wineries. The appeal of the wines lies in their fascinating diversity. This winery is part of the charitable foundation Juliusspital, which was founded more than 430 years ago by the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg, Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn, and still today comprises among other institutions a hospital, a hospice, and care facilities for the elderly and the poor. In order to equip the foundation with the necessary financial means Julius Echter founded, among other business entities, a winery to guarantee steady income. The beautiful historical cellars with the old traditional wooden casks are still in use for fermentation and aging.

Franken

Franken, located in the northern part of Bavaria, is boasting a long tradition and some fine terroirs (mostly shell limestone and Keuper, a kind of marl). Its two leading grape varieties are Riesling and Silvaner. Typically, Franken wine comes in the distinctive, dumpily-rounded Franken “Bocksbeutel” wine bottle. The bottle’s unusual shape dates back to at least the 16th century. The Bocksbeutel may only be used for Franken wines. In Germany, it is a sign of excellence, while in the US, many consumers link this kind of bottle shape to lower quality wine.

Juliusspital Foundation

Weingut Juliusspital is Germany’s second largest winery with 177 hectares under vines in the most renowned sites of Franken, and one of the always top rated wineries. Weingut Juliusspital is a member of the VDP – the association of about 200 German elite winemakers.

Weingut Juliusspital is a very special winery in that it is owned by and part of the charitable Juliusspital Foundation, which was founded in 1576 by the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg, Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn.

At the center of the Juliusspital Foundation are a hospital, an assisted living home for elderly people and a hospice. This has been so for more than 400 years. Today, the buildings of the Juliusspital Foundation comprise many modern buildings but also very impressive and well maintained historical buildings.

As to the latter, the Fürstenbau, a palatial building, designed by the architect Antonio Petrini built in the Barock style with its historical cellar vaults, its garden pavilion and the fountain statues of Jacob van der Auvera, make the Juliusspital a unique monument of art and culture at the heart of the city of Würzburg. The historical cellars, which we had the opportunity to visit, with the old traditional wooden casks, are still in use for fermentation and aging.

Pictures: Juliusspital Foundation

Pictures: Fürstenbau

Weingut Juliusspital

Since its establishment, the profits of the Weingut Juliusspital have contributed to the financing of the social services of the Juliusspital Foundation. In addition to the vineyard land, the Juliusspital Foundation also owns farm land and forests.

Vineyards: 177 ha (437 acres) all over Franken
Annual production: 1.4 million bottles - all screwcap
Average yield: 63 hl per ha (25 hl per acre)
10% export
60% Bocksbeutel bottles
Grape Varieties: 40 % Silvaner, 25 % Riesling, 6 % Müller-Thurgau

Pictures: In the Cellar

Vineyards and Soil Types

Muschelkalk (shelly limestone): Wines from our sites in Würzburg, Randersacker, Thüngersheim, Volkach and Escherndorf are influenced by medium and upper Muschelkalk. They are elegant, have a fine fruity taste and intense minerality.

Keuper: The deep, dark, fine-grained gypsum Keuper soil around Iphofen and Rödelsee produces a well-defined wine with a herbaceous character and long cellar life.

Red Sandstone: Near Bürgstadt on the Lower Main, the soils are shallow and stony. They are characterised as “fervid”. Fruity, elegant red wines with a pleasant tannin level are produced from the vines grown here.

The top sitesof Weingut Juliusspital are: Würzburger Stein, Iphöfer Julius-Echter-Berg, Volkacher Karthäuser, Randersackerer Pfülben, Rödelseer Küchenmeister and Escherndorfer Lump.

10 percent of the Weingut Juliusspital vineyards are organic.

Tasting

The tour ended with a tasting in one of the rooms of the cellar.

Pictures: Tasting

Here are the wines we tasted:

2016 Juliusspital Riesling trocken VDP.Gutswein
2016 Würzburger Müller-Thurgau trocken VDP.Ortswein
2016 Würzburger Abtsleite Silvaner trocken VDP.Erste Lage
2016 Ihöfer Kronsberg Silvaner trocken VDP.Erste Lage
2016 Würzburger Stein Silvaner trocken VDP.Erste Lage
2015 Iphöfer Julius-Echter-Berg Silvaner trocken VDP.Grosse Lage GG
2015 Volkacher Karthäuser Weisser Burgunder trocken VDP.Grosse Lage GG

Lunch at the Juliusspital Tavern

Following the tour and tasting, we walked over to the Juliusspital wine tavern and had lunch there.