350 Years of Silvaner in Franconia

We started our second day in Würzburg by walking down to the Alte Brücke to find a bakery for breakfast. As we walked down the riverfront, Marienberg came into focus and we could see that there were balloons on the vines in front of the fortress. As we got closer to the old bridge we could hear music and a loud speaker announcing the start of a festival celebrating the 350^th Anniversary of Silvaner in Franconia.

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Flowers along the Main river north of the Alte Brücke.


Breakfast from a bakery near the Alte Brücke. We got three twisted breadsticks: one with cheese, one with sesame seeds and one with paprika and peppers.


Würzburg is the capital of the Franconian wine country and we happened to be in town for a festival in the city center celebrating the 350th anniversary of the Silvaner grape in Franconia. The balloon reads, "Franconia Wine: The wine with character." The green icons on the balloon are bocksbeutels, but more about those later...


We arrived at the event around 11 a.m. which was when the festivities began. The short guy in the middle is the president of the Franconian Vintner's Guild and he was on hand to open the first official bocksbeutel of the season, a 2008 Silvaner. The girl in the grey skirt and jacket is the Franconian Wine Queen... a title which is slightly more prestigious than Nebraska's Corn Queen or Iowa's Swine Queen.


Yup, that's a nun at the wine festival, and she's talking to a girl in a gold tiara.


After the 11 a.m. white wine toast on the bridge we decided to walk over to the Residenz before returning to watch the 2 p.m. ceremony. The building in the background here is the Würzburg Residenz.


The Residenz was just that, a residence, for the Bishop of Würzburg in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Residenz is on UNESCO's list of World Cultural Heritage sites, just like Bamberg's old city center.


The Hofgarten at the Residenz is a perfectly manicured garden with flower lined walkways and conical trees.


Here we can see that tree trunks are roughly one Sarah tall.








The backside of the Hofgarten is ringed by an upper terrace that is lined with Rococo statues.


All of the statues are playful cherubs... which is what makes them Rococo.


The Residenz is also a wine estate. There are no grapes grown on the premises, they come from vines around the fortress. This is the Staatlicher Hofkeller show room near the Residenz.


Near the entrance of the showroom there are old antique bottles of wine. This one is from 1930. Notice the shape of the wine bottle, this is the bocksbeutel - the traditional style of wine bottle used in Franconia.


Another antique bocksbeutel from 1947. This bottle was filled with Riesling.


Modern bocksbeutels filled with Silvaner zum Spargel... the perfect compliment to your fresh white asparagus.


Lunch in Würzburg's center was at a small place in a back all where we could eat in a little open air square. Here is a plate of Greek salad with feta and yogurt dressing.


A toasted baguette with salami, pepperoni peppers, cheese and little tomato.


Distelhäuser, a local weissbier.


After lunch we headed back to the bridge to catch the 2 o'clock balloon launch. Here you can see the Silvaner vines beneath the fortress are decorated with balloons.


Balloons were handed out to passersby so they could be released along with the Silvaner balloons.


Click to watch the video.


Since it was the 350^th anniversary of the Silvaner grape, there were 350 green balloons released from the vineyards.


There were several wine carts set up selling wine on the streets and on the bridge. Sarah got this tasting glass (yes, it was actually a wine GLASS) of Silvaner for 1,50€, about $2.00


The wine glass has a cool logo of two guys with backpacks full of grapes holding wine glasses up with a Franconian flag in the middle. You're supposed to turn in the glasses when you are done but this one made it all the way back to Missouri...