Annette and I toured Brandenburg and Berlin in June 2018 with the Weinfreundeskreis Hochheim, right before the Germany-East Tour 2018 by ombiasy WineTours: Wine, Art, Culture, History - Berlin, Saale-Unstrut, Sachsen, Württemberg, Franken
I plan to publish 3 postings with regard to the Brandenburg and Berlin Wine Tour 2018:
Introduction: The Wines of Brandenburg and Berlin, Germany
Touring Wine Country Brandenburg, including Berlin, Germany
Tasting the Wines of Brandenburg and Berlin
Brandenburg is one of the federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former East Germany and West Germany. It lies in the northeast of the country covering an area of 29,478 square kilometers and has roughly 2.5 million residents. The capital and largest city is Potsdam. Brandenburg surrounds but does not include the national capital and city-state Berlin, which is a metropolitan area.
Wine has been produced in Brandenburg since the Middel Ages and is being produced today, although only to a very limited extent. The wine production in Brandenburg accounts for 0.03 percent of Germany's total output. This is equivalent to about 30 percent of the production of Weingut Dr. Robert Weil in the Rheingau.
Wine is produced in Brandenburg in all three quality levels: Deutscher Wein, Landwein and Qualitätswein besonderer Anbaugebiete (mit Prädikat).
Day 1: June 5 - From Hochheim to Lake Senftenberg
The tour started on June 5 in the morning. There were 30 or so of us. We drove by bus from Hochheim in the Rheingau to Senftenberg at Lake Senftenberg in the South of Brandenburg. En route, we stopped at Weingut Schloss Proschwitz (Saale Unstrut Region) and had lunch there. We also tasted the wines of Schlieben, but did not go there.
Schliebener Langer Berg
Wine has been made in Schlieben since the 13th century. Since 1992, after about one hundred years of interruption, wine is made again in Schlieben. The Langer Berg vineyard totals about 1 hectare. On the Langener Berg, the vines grow on terraces across the slope, as they have done for hundreds of years, which is something unusual in Brandenburg.
The "Verein zur Förderung des historischen Weinbaus in Schlieben e. V.“ is in charge of the vineyard.
The Schliebener Langer Berg is one of two areas in Brandenburg, where Qualitätswein can be made. Brandenburg is one of the 26 Landwein regions in Germany and thus Brandenburger Landwein is the rule in Brandenburg. But the exisiting vineyards at reunification were attached to the Saale Unstrut Qualitätswein region or the Sachsen Qualitätswein region. Weingut Dr. Lindicke in Werder close to Potsdam sells its wines as Qualitätswein from Saale Unstrut. The wines from Schlieben in the Elbe-Elster county sell as Sachsen Qualitätswein.
Schlieben is also known for the Schliebener Kellerstraße (Cellar Road) with its 500-year-old wine cellars. This closed cellar complex, unique in northern Germany, has its origins in the late Middle Ages. In 1510, the Schliebener "Amtmann" Sigmund List created the first cellar in the hollow of the Martinsberg. This proved so good that after a short time more came to it. The cellars were used by farmers to store crops, beer and wine. A uniform temperature of 10 ° C was ideal for this purpose. Today there are 34 cellars, some of which have been renovated in recent years.
We tasted 3 wines.
Day 2: June 6 - Kloster Neuzelle and the Wines of Grano in Gruben (Weingut Patke)
We started the day with a tour of Kloster Neuzelle, where we also had lunch. In the afternoon we toured with members of the Neuzeller Kloster-Winzer e. V., the local viticulture association,their vineyards and sat down in the vineyard for a tasting. From there we drove to Guben for another tasting.
Kloster Neuzelle
The Neuzelle Abbey is a Cistercian monastery in Lower Lusatia in the historic border region between Lower Lusatia and the March of Brandenburg. It is regarded as one of the most significant Baroque monuments in the North of Germany. The monastery complex consists of several churches, cloister, cloister garden, including vineyards and a brewery
The Neuzeller Kloster-Winzer e. V., the local viticulture association, helps to preserve the cultural heritage of the monks of Neuzelle. The better known of the two vineyards of Neuzelle monastery is called “die Scheibe” (the disc). Surrounded by the magnifi cent baroque monastery complex, the Neuzelle viticulture association has restored the hill known as “the disc” back to its use in the times of the monks. Thus, the only vineyard in the state within a preserved monastery was re-cultivated in 2002. Trellises, however, are nowhere to be found. According to the tradition, the vines grow on individual poles, which is more complicated to manage.
On the nearby Reisberg, association member Hans-Wilhelm Richter grows more Neuzelle grape varieties in his vineyard. Neuzelle has further culinary delights to offer. Outside the baroque monastery there is the traditional Neuzelle monastery brewery.
Guben/ Weingut Patke
In Guben there were more than 1000 vineyards at some point. In 2003, the Gubener Weinbau Association was founded in Grano, which is a district in Guben. Recently, the operation, including 1.6 hectares, was taken over by Weingut Patke.
Weingut Patke is based further north of Guben, close to Frankfurt/ Oder. Weingut Patke was founded in 2017 by the Jahnke and Lehmann families. The brothers Matthias and Marcel Jahnke and the brothers Steffen and Holger Lehmann run the estate, with the help of their families.
Day 3: June 7 - Lake Sedlitz and Wolkenberg Wines
In the morning we went on a boat trip cum tasting. In the afternoon we toured the Brown Coal Open Pit "Welzow-Süd" and tasted the wines of Wolkenberg.
Boat Tour on Lake Sedlitz with Tasting
Lake Sedlitz in the Lausitz in the South of Brandenburg is the largest of about 30 artificial lakes which are being created as part of the renatuation of the brown coal open pit mining areas in Brandenburg. When we were there the areas was still being flooded and the lake had not yet reached its final water level.
We tasted 5 wines during the boat trip and had a delicious Solyanka Soup after the tasting.
Weingut Martin and Kavola Krause
Weingut Schurigurg
Weingut Leonhardt
Weinbau Dr. Wobar
Familie H.-W. Richter
Tour of Brown Coal Open Pit "Welzow-Süd" and the Wines of Wolkenberg
Following the boat trip, we toured the Brown Coal Open Pit "Welzow-Süd" and tasted the wines of Wolkenberg. Wolkenberg is a village that was crowded out by the Welzow Brown Coal Open Pit. As part of the renaturation efforts, the owner of the Welzow Brown Coal Open Pit has created a vineyard totalling 6 hectares in the area where the village Wolkenberg used to be. Recently, Weingut Martin Schwarz in Sachsen took over the vineyard management and the winemaking. After the tour, we tasted 6 Wolkenberg wines.
Day 4: June 8 - Sanssauci, Villa Jacobs and Weinbau Dr. Lindicke
We spent the day around Potsdam. We did not have a chance to visit Weingut Dr. Lindicke, the leading wine producer in Brandenburg, but enjoyed an extensive tasting of his wines at a dinner in Havel.
Sanssauci Klausberg
We all know about Frederick the Great, arguable the most important and beloved King of Prussia. To escape the formal ceremonies and pomp of the Berlin court he built a summer palace “Sanssouci” - basically more like a large, single-story villa than a palace - in Potsdam, outside of Berlin. Frederick the Great was very modern in his thinking and an aficionado of the arts and fine living.
In his will Frederick the Great wrote that he wanted to be buried in the vineyard of Sanssouci but the twists and turns of history had it that he finally came to rest on Hohenzollern Castle in Württemberg. On August 17, 1991 (the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 made it possible) on the 205th anniversary of his death Frederick's casket lay in state in the court of honor at Sanssouci, covered by a Prussian flag and escorted by a Bundeswehr (German Army) guard of honor. After nightfall, Frederick's body was finally laid to rest in the terrace of the vineyard of Sanssouci – in the still existing crypt he had built there – without pomp, in accordance with his will.
There are 3 vinyards in Sanssauci. Frederick the Great was a great lover of dessert fruit. Fresh fruit were a must at any of his meals. Therefore he had three terraced vineyards built in three places in Potsdam between 1744 and 1769, where table grapes thrived alongside peaches, apricots, apples and other fruits: Wüster Berg, Mühlberg and Klausberg.
We visited the latter. Andreas Kramp, project leader, was our host at the Königlicher Weinberg Klausberg.
Andreas Kramp took us on a tour of the Königlicher Weinberg Klausberg and then sat down with us for a tasting of the wines of the Königlicher Weinberg Klausberg. After the visit of the Königlicher Weinberg Klausberg, we toured other parts of Sanssouci.
See: Vineyard Tour and Tasting at the Königlicher Weinberg Klausberg in Sanssouci, Potsdam - Germany-East Tour 2018 by ombiasy WineTours: Wine, Art, Culture, History - Berlin, Saale-Unstrut, Sachsen, Württemberg, Franken
Villa Jacobs
Wine cultivation on the land of Villa Jacobs (Jakobs Mansion) is part of the 200-year-old Potsdam horticulture and viticulture tradition. Already in the 18th century, the slopes of the nearby Pfingstberg (Whitsun Hill) were planted with vines.
Upon the establishment of the park started in 1835 according to plans by Peter Joseph Lenné, extensive orchards and a vineyard were built on the property of Villa Jacobs. The vision for this garden was the idea to combine a decorative park landscape with agricultural use, and thereby realize a model estate.
In 2006, the villa, which had been demolished after a fire in 1981, was acquired by a private investor. Then, the Italianate villa, which had been conceived by Ludwig Persius in Tuscan country style, was erected again in its original appearance.
For several years now, the 4.5-hectare park has been reconstructed step by step according to the original plans from the 19th century with the terraced vineyard as an important component. In 2011 the owner planted one thousand vines here. The system was installed in the form of a wire frame concept across the slope. Hail nets provide protection from birds and wasps. Due to the natural topography and the rich soil of the former clay pit, Frühburgunder (Pinot noir précoce), a high-quality grape variety with a long tradition, grows here.
Weingut Dr. Lindicke
The renaissance of viticulture in Werder started already in GDR times. Pushed by the City of Werder, 4.7 hectares were replanted in the Wachtelberg with vines by the GPG Obstproduktion Werder in 1985. Then came reunification and the renaissance of viticulture in Werder lost a bit of steam. But thanks to Dr. Lindicke and others, there are about 8 hectares of vineyards and 3 wine producers in Werder today. The Verein zur Förderung des historischen Weinbaus im Raum Werder (Havel) e.V. played an important role and of course Dr.Manfred Lindicke, who took over the Wachtelberg in 1996.
We did not visit Weingut Dr. Lindicke, but enjoyed a Dr. Lindicke wines at a winepairing dinner at Restaurant Chelinet in Werder.
However, we visited Weingut Dr. Lindicke the Germany-East Tour 2018 by ombiasy WineTours: Wine, Art, Culture, History - Berlin, Saale-Unstrut, Sachsen, Württemberg, Franken. See: Vineyard Tour and Tasting at Weingut Dr. Lindicke in Werder an der Havel, Brandenburg - Germany-East Tour 2018 by ombiasy WineTours: Wine, Art, Culture, History - Berlin, Saale-Unstrut, Sachsen, Württemberg, Franken
Day 5: June 9 - Berlin City Tour, Visit of the Reichstag, and Winemaking in Berlin
Before lunch in the Nikolai Viertel in Berlin, we toured Berlin and the Reichstag. In the afternoon, we visited the Weingarten Berlin e.V., toured their vineyard and sat down for a tasting of wines from Berlin.
Berlin, surrounded by Brandenburg, does not belong to Brandenburg. Thus its wines neither qualify to be a Qba nor a Landwein and have to be sold as Deutscher Wein.
Berlin's history of wine is as old as that of Brandenburg. Wine making in Berlin blossemed, went under and re-occured to a very limited extent as it did in Brandenburg. In the haydays there were about 100 wine producers in Berlin. The revival of viticulture in Berlin started in the 1970s, when the City of Wiesbaden sent Riesling plants from its Neroberg to the partner city Berlin Bezirk 5.
There are a dozen or so vineyard sites in Berlin today. The largest one is in Britz were 1500 vines are planted on 5000 m2. The wine made from these plants is the only one that is 100% from Berlin, with the grapes grown in a vineyard in Berlin and the wine made in a cellar in Berlin. All other wines from Berlin are made in external wineries as far away as in Achkarren in Baden. Other producers include Simone Adams in Ingelheim/ Rheinhessen, Weingut Proschwitz Georg zur Lippe in Meissne/ Sachsen, Weingut Höhn in Wiesbaden/ Rheingau and the Winzergenossenschaft Rheingrafenberg in Meddersheim/ Rheinhessen.
All wines from Berlin are labelled "Deutscher Wein", as Berlin does not belong to the Brandenburg Landwein Region. Still, since January 1, 2016 it is legal to grow commercially vine in Berlin.
schiller-wine: Related Postings
UPCOMING Tours/ Wine Dinners/ Tastings - Annette and Christian Schiller/ ombiasyPR & WineTours/ schiller-wine, Germany, France, USA (Issued: January 1, 2019)
Ombiasy Wine Tours 2018: 3 x France and 3 x Germany - Ombiasy Newsletter December 2017
Announcement: Renaissance of the Terroir in Germany. Back to the Roots - Wine Tasting Seminar lead by Annette Schiller at the German Wine Society (Washington DC Chapter), USA
Germany-East Tour 2018 by ombiasy WineTours: Wine, Art, Culture, History - Berlin, Saale-Unstrut, Sachsen, Württemberg, Franken
Introduction: The Wines of Brandenburg and Berlin, Germany
Vineyard Tour and Tasting at the Königlicher Weinberg Klausberg in Sanssouci, Potsdam - Germany-East Tour 2018 by ombiasy WineTours: Wine, Art, Culture, History - Berlin, Saale-Unstrut, Sachsen, Württemberg, Franken
Vineyard Tour and Tasting at Weingut Dr. Lindicke in Werder an der Havel, Brandenburg - Germany-East Tour 2018 by ombiasy WineTours: Wine, Art, Culture, History - Berlin, Saale-Unstrut, Sachsen, Württemberg, Franken