Location and landscape
Wiesenbronn is a municipality in the district of Kitzingen in Franconia and belongs to the administrative community of Großlangheim. The village lies at the foot of the Schwanberg in the hilly landscape of the Steigerwald. Vineyards, woodland, meadows and arable fields shape the surrounding area.
Winegrowing and wine sites
Winegrowing in Wiesenbronn has been documented since the High Middle Ages. In the 16th century, the area under vines reached its greatest extent of about 1,300 morgens. The official Franconian list of wine sites includes the Wachhügel, the Geißberg and the Heller Berg in the Schwanberger Land and within the Großlage Schloßberg. The Heller Berg was added in 2011 to the list of wine sites for Wiesenbronn; the former name Geißberg was deleted for the parcels in question.
After 1945, Wiesenbronn took up the cultivation of red wine again on a larger scale as the first place in the winegrowing region of Kitzingen, and is therefore known as the red wine island on the Steigerwald.
Businesses and grape varieties
Around 70 families currently maintain the winegrowing tradition. About ten producers market their own wines, while most deliver their grapes for further processing. Organic winegrowing by about ten families is carried out on 32 percent of the vine-growing area of Wiesenbronn.
Among the red grape varieties, Spätburgunder, Schwarzriesling, Portugieser, Bläufränkisch, Blauburger, Domina, Regent, Cabernet Dorsa, Cabernet Mitos and Dornfelder are documented, among others. Silvaner is the most important white grape variety; in addition, Riesling, Rieslaner, Müller-Thurgau, Bacchus, Scheurebe, Johanniter, Traminer and Weißer Burgunder are mentioned.
Wine style and development
The red wines are described locally as ranging from fruit-accented and elegant to full-bodied. Silvaner is regarded as the most important direction for white wines and is linked with a pronounced terroir character. For red wines, various forms of maturation up to ripening in barrique made from regional wood are documented. White wine production ranges from Qualitätswein to Auslese, Trockenbeerenauslese and Eiswein.
The historical decline in the vineyards is locally linked to the conversion of areas under vines after the Thirty Years’ War, the intensification of agriculture, introduced vine diseases, phylloxera and changing drinking habits.
