Wine country Bavaria

Bavarian wine = Franconian wine?

It quickly becomes clear when looking at the distribution of the wine-growing areas in Bavaria: Franconian wines dominate the Bavarian wine market. While Franconia very clearly takes the lead with a growing area of 6,237 hectares, two others are quite a way behind it – Bavarian Lake Constance takes second place in the Bavarian growing areas with 68 hectares and the Regensburg table wine area comes in a third with its small but lovely six hectares. Generally, the growing areas under vine stocks in Bavaria make up for roughly six percent of the wine-growing area in the whole of Germany, of which 81 percent of the wine growers have specialised in cultivating white wines and 19 percent in red wine. Particularly popular varieties among the white wine are the Müller-Thurgau, considered to be the most successful new white wine variety in the world, and the Silvaner. The Spätburgunder and Domina are in the running for the most popular varieties among red wines.

The Franconian pyramid of quality

Franconia is famous for its great diversity of good wine varieties. Generally though, its wines can be broken down into three clearly structured categories: New Franconian, Classic Franconian and Great Franconian. The “New Franconian” is mainly distinguished by its uncomplicated, fruity and fresh wines that are really good fun. With the Classic Franconian wines, on the other hand, you really get to know Franconia. The exceptional diversity of the grape varieties is reflected in the famous green Bocksbeutel bottle, the trademark of high-quality wines from the Franconian growing area. Last but not least: the Crème de la Crème of Franconian wines can be found in the Great Franconian section. The wine growers’ quality standards are extremely high, which is why these gems cannot be found everywhere.