Franken
フランケン
The home of Silvaner and the iconic Bocksbeutel bottle.
About Franken
- Producers listed
- 31
Bavaria's wine region known for Silvaner and the distinctive Bocksbeutel (flat-sided bottle), producing dry, mineral whites.
Best for
Wine enthusiasts seeking dry, mineral-rich white wines and unique regional traditions.
Food Pairings
Roasted pork, freshwater fish, asparagus, and traditional Franconian sausages.
Producers
2ナトゥーアキンダー
2Naturkinder
2Naturkinder is the natural wine project of the married couple Michael Völker and Melanie Drese, based at Michael's family winery in Kitzingen, Franken, which has been growing grapes since 1843. After careers in science publishing between London and New York, the pair returned home, began farming the estate's roughly seven hectares organically from 2012, and released their first zero-sulfur wines under the 2Naturkinder label in 2013, starting with just a few hundred bottles. Working muschelkalk and Keuper soils, they hand-harvest, ferment spontaneously, and bottle their wines unfined and unfiltered with no additives — including no added sulfites — at any stage. The estate is also known for a bat conservation project, fertilizing select vineyard plots with guano from a resident colony of endangered grey long-eared bats. 2Naturkinder is not a member of the VDP, and its wines have become a benchmark among sommeliers for a raw, honest expression of Franken's Silvaner, Bacchus, and Müller-Thurgau.
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2naturkinder.de/アンディ・ヴァイガント
Andi Weigand
Andi Weigand is a second-generation natural winemaker in Iphofen, Franken, working the vineyards his father Werner first planted in 1990. Andi took over the estate around 2015 and, by 2018, had converted the roughly 10-hectare property to organic and biodynamic-inspired farming certified under Naturland guidelines — making it the only biodynamically-farmed estate among Iphofen's 25 wineries. Vines up to 55 years old grow in the Keuper marl, limestone and gypsum soils of the Iphöfer Kronsberg. In the cellar Andi favors an 80-year-old basket press, large old wooden barrels and Georgian qvevri amphorae over stainless steel, fermenting spontaneously with wild yeasts and bottling most cuvées without added sulfur, fining or filtration. The result is a range of vivid, mineral-driven Franconian whites — Silvaner, Müller-Thurgau, Scheurebe and orange wines — built on hands-on, low-intervention craft rather than technique.
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www.andiweigand.com/ビュルガーシュピタール・ツム・ハイリゲン・ガイスト
Bürgerspital zum Heiligen Geist
Historic charitable foundation in Würzburg (since 1316) owning some of Franken's greatest vineyards and producing benchmark Silvaner in the Bocksbeutel.
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www.buergerspital.deディヴィーノ・ノルトハイム・テュンガースハイム
DIVINO Nordheim Thüngersheim eG
DIVINO Nordheim Thüngersheim eG is a wine-growers' cooperative in Germany's Franken (Franconia) region, headquartered in Nordheim am Main. Founded in 1951 as the Nordheim cooperative, it was joined in 2012 by the Thüngersheim cooperative (established 1930), making DIVINO today one of Franken's largest wine cooperatives, farming more than 300 hectares of vineyards on the limestone and shell-limestone slopes above the Main river. Since reorienting toward quality over quantity from 1997 onward, the cooperative has built a tiered portfolio — from the everyday Juventa line through village-level Ortswein and single-vineyard Terroir bottlings up to dry Großes Gewächs wines — centered on Franken's signature grape Silvaner, alongside Müller-Thurgau, Bacchus, Weißburgunder, Domina and Spätburgunder, many bottled in the region's traditional flask-shaped Bocksbeutel.
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www.divino-wein.de/フュルスト・レーヴェンシュタイン
Fürst Löwenstein
Fürst Löwenstein is a historic noble wine estate in Kleinheubach, Lower Franconia, whose winemaking traditions trace back to 1611 under the Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg family. A VDP member since 1919, the estate is celebrated for its Homburger Kallmuth, a dramatic VDP.Grosse Lage steep slope on the Main river with roots in Roman-era viticulture. Silvaner is the estate's flagship variety, complemented by Riesling, Spätburgunder, and Sauvignon Blanc, alongside additional Rheingau vineyards in Hallgarten acquired in 1875. Under managing director Dr. Stephanie Prinzessin zu Löwenstein and cellar master Peter Arnold, the estate blends centuries of aristocratic heritage with precise, terroir-focused winemaking.
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loewenstein-wein.de/フュルストリッヒ・カステルシェ・ドメーネ
Fürstlich Castell'sche Domäne
Located in the village of Castell in the Steigerwald hills of Franken, the Fürstlich Castell'sches Domänenamt is owned by the Fürst zu Castell-Castell family, whose roots in the area trace back to 1057. Viticulture on the estate is documented from 1224, making it one of Germany's oldest continuously run wine estates. In 1659 the first documented Silvaner vines in Germany were planted here at the Schlossberg site, and Silvaner remains the estate's signature grape, accounting for roughly 40% of plantings on gypsum-keuper marl soils. The estate has been a member of the VDP (Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter) since 1955, farming several VDP.ERSTE LAGE and VDP.GROSSE LAGE monopole vineyards, notably Schlossberg and Kirchberg, and producing dry, mineral-driven Silvaner and Spätburgunder wines.
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www.castell.de/
Show all other producers (25)
- Hans Wirsching
- Horst Sauer
- Juliusspital
- Paul Weltner
- Rudolf Fürst
- Rudolf May
- Schloss Sommerhausen
- Staatlicher Hofkeller Würzburg
- Stefan Vetter
- Weingut Bickel-Stumpf
- Weingut Egon Schäffer
- Weingut Glaser-Himmelstoss
- Weingut Gregor Schwab
- Weingut Höfler
- Weingut Johann Ruck
- Weingut Max Müller I
- Weingut Michael Fröhlich
- Weingut Rainer Sauer
- Weingut Schmitt's Kinder
- Weingut Steintal
- Weingut Störrlein Krenig
- Weingut Wilhelm Arnold
- Weingut Zur Schwane
- Weingut am Stein - Ludwig Knoll
- Zehnthof Luckert
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the most famous grape variety in Franken?
- Silvaner is the most famous and significant grape variety in the Franken region.
- What is a Bocksbeutel?
- A Bocksbeutel is a traditional, flattened, flask-shaped glass bottle used exclusively for wines from Franken and specific neighboring areas.
- What is the climate like in Franken?
- Franken has a continental climate with cold winters and warm summers, which contributes to the structured and dry style of its wines.