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Silvaner wines from Franconia
Many of Franconia‘s famous wines are made from Silvaner grapes. Silvaners are considered to be neutral wines, mildly acidic, with fine fruit flavors and a delicate bouquet. They are rich in minerals, spicy and ideal with both Franconia‘s hearty cuisine and more refined dishes. Silvaner is an old grape variety: it was first introduced in Germany back in 1665 by the Cistercian abbot Alberich Degen, who brought it from Franconia‘s Steigerwald region.
It was not until the early 19th century that it began to be planted throughout Germany and today it accounts for around five per cent of Germany‘s wine-growing area.
The Silvaner grape (also known as ranken or sylvaner) is generally thought to have originated in Austria. It is more demanding regarding soil than Riesling, it does not thrive in dry or stony ground and is sensitive to frost. However, Silvaner grapes are not only used for table wines, they also produce fine and top-level wines.
The wine-growing region of Franconia (around 6,000 hectares) is in the north-west of the Franconian region, between Bamberg and Aschaffenburg.
Franconian wines tend to be very dry – ‚Franconian dry‘: they are only allowed to contain half as much residual sugar as wines from other regions, four instead of nine grams per litre. Another special thing about Franconian wines is the distinctive ‚Bocksbeutel‘ bottle, an indication of a high-quality wine. Why these flat, bulbous bottles with short necks are called ‚Bocksbeutel‘ is unclear, but it is popularly thought to be because of the bottle‘s resemblance to a goat‘s scrotum. The bottle design has been protected by EU legislation since 1989 and can only be used for Franconian wines (with a few exceptions).
Map Franconia Region
External Resources
Official Website Franconia Tourism: www.frankentourismus.com
