Mainberg

Mainberg is a municipal part of Schonungen in the Lower Franconian district of Schweinfurt in Bavaria. The town lies on the Main near the eastern edge of Schweinfurt and belongs to Franconia.

Between the eastern edge of Schweinfurt and Mainberg, the Mainleite stretches out. The wine-growing area is bounded to the south by the Main and to the north by the Hain. The steep, south-facing spur bank on a bend in the Main has an almost amphitheatrical form. Geologically, the slope consists mostly of Upper Muschelkalk; in the upper part, layers of the Lower Keuper appear.

The Mainleite is assigned in the official Bavarian register of wine-growing sites to the municipality of Schonungen and the district of Mainberg in the Volkacher Mainschleife winegrowing area, where it is listed as having no Großlage. The name is documented in records of the Teutonic Order from the years 1313/37 as a field name; the road along the Main in the direction of Mainberg was mentioned in 1407 as Mainleitenstraße. Viticulture along the Mainleite is documented for 1323 and 1338.

In the past, wine-growing was widespread along the Mainleite and existed on the steep south-eastern and southern slopes up to about the middle of the 20th century. The former vineyards in Mainberg are now largely overgrown. A winegrowers’ association founded in 1905 with about 50 members from Schweinfurt and Mainberg coordinated, among other things, the purchase of spraying agents, the vineyard barrier and the date for the harvest. The vineyard walls and stairways on the Mainberg section were built between 1826 and 1829. Since 1956, the Mainleite has been designated as a landscape protection area.