TOUR
POSTPONED
Wine Retreat
THURSDAY OCTOBER 17, 2024
THE RHINELAND
A navigable waterway since Roman times, the Rhine is Western Europe’s 2nd longest river after the Danube. Though it originates in the Swiss Alps in the south and empties into the North Sea in the Netherlands, the name itself is most closely associated with the portion of river that essentially defines the border of Germany and France, and most of the area on the German side has historically been identified as The Rhineland. With its many sloping vineyards and half-timbered villages, the Rhineland is one of Germany’s best-preserved historical regions, and its riverside wineries, castles and cities are among the most-visited destinations in Germany.
The Rhineland features in many of the medieval legends that reference the early historic or quasi-historic Germanic Heroic Age, which spanned the first five centuries of the 1st millennium. The best-known expression of these stories is arguably Richard Wagner’s epic opera Das Rheingold.
LORELEY
This 433-ft high steep slate rock on the bank of the Rhine overlooks an infamous curve that has been the site of numerous maritime disasters since at least the 10th century, when official records were first kept. Its name stems either from the old German and Celtic words for “murmuring rock” — due to the heavy currents and the amplified echo provided by the rock itself – or possibly from the later German “lurking rock” in that it lay in wait for passing ships. Whatever the true origin, there are found many mythological, literary and musical references associated with the Loreley, several of which repeat the evolving theme of a beautiful enchantress luring sailors to their doom.
PFALZGRAFENSTEIN CASTLE
Known in the Rhineland simply as “the Pfalz”, this former stronghold is famous for its picturesque and unique setting. The earliest portions of the castle date from the 1300’s; later additions were made in the 1600 and 1700’s, as evidenced by the Baroque tower cap.
Working in conjunction with the shoreline town of Kaub, and the town’s additional hilltop Gutenfels Castle, the Pfalz functioned as a toll-collecting station. Due to a forbidding upstream cataract, as well as a chain drawn across the river, passing ships were forced to pass along the Pfalz’s side of the river, and submit – or its traders would be imprisoned in the castle dungeon. Unlike most Rhineland fortifications, the tiny fortress (its quarters held about twenty men) was never conquered in war, or destroyed by ice or floods.
WEINGUT ANDREAS MANN
Located in the whimsically-named Rheinhessische Schweiz (Rhenish-Hessian Switzerland) wine-rich region southwest of Frankfurt, Andreas “Andi” Mann and his family oversee 25 acres of vineyards with the goal to “work as closely as possible with the cycle of nature.” Having studied Economic Science, Andi eventually took over his parents’ traditional winery, and has from day one focused on natural and “low intervention” wines that allow unique flavors of local terroir to emerge. Recognized by Germany’s Ministry of Viticulture as a partner of the state and federal governments in agricultural improvement, protection and management, Weingut Mann farms all of its wines bio-dynamically or organically, and harvests them by hand.
ALT-SACHSENHAUSEN
While the greater part of the city of Frankfurt was destroyed in the war, one neighborhood separated from the historic center by the Main River, Old Sachsenhausen, was largely spared. As a result, a portion of the area retains the feel of a medieval German village, with half-timbered buildings and cobbled streets — and it’s here where many of the city’s traditional apfelwein taverns are found.
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