In the infernal heat... Würzburger Stein

The largest compact steep slope of Germany, the most famous vineyard of Franken, the warmest northern microclimate and the oldest living wine of the world...

The most boring annual trip of the Czech Philharmonic, last concerts of the season, a dragging stay in a pleasant but desperately sleepy little spa town...

I don't know why it took me so many years to realize the geographic closeness of Würzburg with Bad Kissingen and to blend the two invariables into a new, enlivening experience...

The public transport system of Deutsche Bahn works, unlike that of the neurons in my brain, very well! After a mere hour in a pleasantly cooled regional train, I found myself directly under the hillside of Stein. The route to the inside of the vineyard is circuitous, you need to pass, on the right or on the left, under a construction of railway embankment several hundred meters away from the railway station. Visitors are taken into consideration here, the vineyard and the town make an organic whole, the vineyard is easily accessible through concrete paths and it includes a sightseeing route with well elaborated information panels and an ampelographic exhibition of the varieties cultivated here. During the walk across the vineyard, it is possible to taste its wine as well – in a smaller private winery at the foot of the hill next to the entrance stairway and also in a restaurant on the top of the hill. The refreshment comes handy, as the climate of this vineyard is famous by its heat. The sun is literally baking the southern slope, which is enjoyed, apart from the grapes, by ubiquitous thermophilic lizards. I can confirm, from my own experience, that a walk along the whole route across the vineyard in the midday sun can be compared to a visit in a sauna! However, no sauna will provide you with such a beautiful view of the town nor photogenic details from the life of grapevine. 

Its bushes in Stein are shared by three famous Würzburg hospitals - Bürgerspital, Juliusspital and Staatliche Hofkeller. Unlike the two first ones, which have been fulfilling the role of a healthcare facility to this day, the latter has never been a real hospital - it is the winery of the castle residence. But people have been accustomed to call it like that from way back. The most appreciated part of the vineyard – Stein Harfe, a filet in the slope, is the monopoly of Bürgerspital. It is the very wine from here, Riesling Beerenauslese 1540, which is the oldest still drinkable white wine in the world. Or at least it was... Both the information board in the vineyard and winemaking publications mention the story, how – in 1960s, one of the bottles was opened for evaluation by the wine guru H. Johnsson, who had been praising the uncommon qualities of the wine, before it „untimely died in the glass“... No other mortal will probably get this chance, as only one last bottle is resting in the cellars of Bürgerspital. Nevertheless, for not a very small fee, you can buy a “somewhat” more contemporary year of this wine (in my case 2002), store it in your cellar and wait few hundred years for a similar result:-).

After the very rich experience of the tour across the extraordinary vineyard, I longed, of course, to know the places where the local wine is processed and where it matures. Unfortunately, not one of the three producers opens the cellars for public apart from weekends, so I could only enjoy seeing the old anatomic hall of Juliusspital, used for degustations nowadays, the building of Bürgerspital with a vinotheque and the presentation shop of Staatliche Hofkellerr with an interesting design.

Since 2009, I have been looking forward anxiously to future visits of Bad Kissingen:-)