Regional Specialities
The Romantic Road – Wine Region
Wine
The vineyards along the Romantic Road stretch from Würzburg on the river Main to Wertheim and from there along the river Tauber as far as Rothenburg, crossing the borders of Franconia, Baden and Württemberg along the way.
Of a total cultivated area of 1400 hectares, 65% are planted with white wine varieties and 35% with red wine grapes. Müller Thurgau and Silvaner are the most common grape varieties for white wine, whilst for reds the range includes Schwarzriesling (Pinot Meunier), Kerner, Bacchus, Auxerrois, Riesling, Ruländer (Pinot Gris), Scheurebe, Traminer, Gewürztraminer, Blauer Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir), Dornfelder, Domina, Regent and Acolon. Other wines that do well in the mineral rich Muschelkalk (musselchalk) soil of the Tauber Valley are Weissherbst (a varietal rosé), and Schillerwein and Rotling, both made from mixed red and white grapes. The star varietal along the Romantic Road is, however, the ‘Tauberschwarz’, given its name in 1726 by Count Carl Gustav of Hohenlohe Weikersheim: thought to have died out, it was finally rediscovered in the 1980s.
