Cool Climate Wine Summit had the privilege of joining a press trip for Nordic buyers, organised by Franken Silvanerheimat. Three days of a packed programme, many meetings with winemakers, and numerous stops on the road to get a better understanding of Franconia's terroir left us deeply impressed by this classic German cool climate wine growing region. A big thank you to Andreas Göpfert and the team at Silvanerheimat and Alp Bayern for organising such a well-structured and informative tour.
History Wherever We Went
Franconia is an old, traditional wine growing region. The Romans were never here, so winemaking traditions are younger than in the more traditional western German wine growing regions like Pfalz and Rheinhessen. Tradition was also visible along the road as we drove through the region. Century-old houses, medieval castles, walls, and gates, and terrace vineyards with historic stone walls are a familiar sight along the vineyards, which stretch across steep slopes alongside the river Main.
Tourism is Key
The beauty and historical charm of the region might also be one of the reasons why the income from wine tourism outperforms the income from wine sales by a factor of 10. Consequently, many estates have a hotel or guest rooms to stay, as well as gastronomy connected to their premises. This makes staying in the wine region even more comfortable, and allows for exploring the region by hiking from wine village to wine village, if time allows for it. However, something that lags behind this focus on tourism is the public transport infrastructure, so unless you are keen on hiking, or switching buses multiple times, a rental car is the recommended mode of transport.
Silvanerheimat Franken kindly provided rooms at the Meintzinger hotel in Frickenhausen, featuring beautiful, well-designed rooms, friendly staff, and an incredible breakfast buffet. If you stay there for at least three nights you can choose your room, and in that case I recommend room 201 — which happened to be my room, the largest one of the house, allowing for an exceptionally comfortable stay.
From Tradition to Modernity
A side effect of this long tradition of focusing on wine tourism and regional wine sales is the need for Franconian winemakers to reinvent themselves in a changing market environment. Part of it is developing export markets, which has been long neglected. And while switching the mindset toward a bigger focus on export, quality remains a challenge to address. We visited a number of Franconia's most outstanding wineries. But this should not obscure the fact that many of the more traditional houses who still rely heavily on wine tourism produce wines that feel two decades out of step. It is for the young generation to take over and change this, and we saw many great examples of this happening. But we should also not deny the fact that not every winery in Franconia will succeed with this endeavour.
Finding Hidden Gems
The underrepresentation of Franconian winemakers internationally was strikingly described by one of the Swedish importers joining the trip. Out of the whole assortment of the Swedish monopoly Systembolaget, known for a quality selection of German wines, only 13 positions were from Franconia. This naturally allows for many hidden gems to discover, as many winemakers here are only just beginning to export. This is not only the case for many family estates but even for some VDP. estates we met.
Underpriced Wines
Whether estates are export-experienced or not has a high impact on the pricing of wines. Just referring to some of the VDP. estates we met during the trip, it was interesting to see that the more export-experienced VDP. estates price their VDP. Gutswein at a level between 10 to 11 EUR per bottle, while some other VDP. estates without export experience presented their VDP. Ortswein at the same price point. This gap creates interesting buying opportunities not only for importers but also for private wine lovers. In the reviews below, I mention for example a VDP. Erste Lage Spätburgunder by VDP. Weingut Schmitt's Kinder which at a consumer price of 20 EUR is the best value-for-money buy recommendation I can give after this trip.
Understanding Style First, Then Terroir
As I had not previously been to Franconia and never really focused on tasting wines from there, for me this trip was more about understanding the style and signature of the region, rather than going into terroir analysis of the three dominant soil types: Muschelkalk, Buntsandstein, and Gypsum (Keuper). This will be a topic for a separate study section. Tasting around 200 wines and taking detailed notes left me with some key insights.
First, Silvaner as the local signature grape is very diverse, vintage-affected, and terroir-specific. From simple Gutswein steel-tank driven and fresh to mature fruit and heavy oak impact, we tasted everything (including Sekt) and it became apparent that Silvaner is probably as difficult to master as Riesling or other of the noble grape varieties. We had a lot of very good wines based on Silvaner, but true outstanding examples were rare and really reflected the intellectual approach of the winemakers behind those outstanding wines.
Second, Riesling has its own expression here. What impressed me was the clear cool climate perspective that many of the Riesling wines showed, paired with some expressiveness that I have not encountered like this in other regions. Acidity is strikingly high and this has an impact on how I perceive the citrus aromas, often reminding me of lemon curd, freshly cleaned bathroom, and a very pronounced, sharp, and intense citric characteristic.
Third, herbal aromas are pretty easy to identify in Franconian wines. Many of the Silvaners we had reminded us of burned sage, especially when matured in used oak barrels. Rieslings show clear signs of chamomile and fennel, similar to the Pfalz, but a bit fresher, due to the rather citric perspective just mentioned. Red wines have nearly Mediterranean perspectives, often showing thyme and rosemary in the nose.
Climate Change
Naturally, climate change has its effect in Franconia. When we visited around 10–13 May 2026, vegetation was in full swing and around two weeks ahead of the previous year. The risk of spring frost damage, or spring hail affecting the growing season was high. Despite some thunderstorms, we luckily did not encounter any of this — but the problem of changing weather patterns and weather extremes, like long drought periods followed by far-too-heavy rain events, was something mentioned again and again by winemakers.
The Way Forward
We will surely see more of Franconia internationally in the future. The way forward for engaging with this wine region is to travel there, meet the winemakers, stay a few nights, and get a feeling for the mentality and history of Franconia. In a next step, it is exciting to explore the unique terroir that geological forces and the river Main have created here over millions of years. Another perspective worth exploring is the history of Gemischter Satz and ancient varieties, such as the different colour mutations of Silvaner, or the rare variety Adelfränkisch and other local indigenous specialities.
Some Wines that Will Stick with Us
Many wines were incredible on this trip and the hospitality of the Franconian winemakers was fantastic. However, some wines really stood out among the around 200 that I tasted consciously, taking notes. Many of the wineries, like VDP. Weingut Max Müller I, presented a range of wines in the top-scoring category. I only mention one wine per winery to give a more representative picture.
