Wine Tours in Germany

The problem will be to find a winery that offers guided tours in English. I remember that before the pandemic, the Hessian state winery Kloster Eberbach (not that far from Mainz) offered such tours by prior arrangement. You could inquire by email how the situation is presently: [email protected]

Thank you! Will do.

You might want to make a stop here, in Rüdesheim. It gives you a really good idea about the many wineries in this area and lets you taste any of 160 different wines without any pressure to buy. They have fantastic food too.
Located directly across from the train station, it is easy to find.
https://www.rheinweinwelt.de/en/rheinweinwelten.html

Send this tour an email to see what they can offer you, as they do have wine tours in English:
https://www.bottlestops.com/

Looks great!! Thanks!

When I was in Cochem in 2008, I discovered a little winery, Rademacher, across the parking lot from the Hbf. They have winery tours and also reasonable accommodations should you want to base your winery tour in Cochem.

Cochem is in the heart of the Mosel Riesling area. Ground zero for Riesling wines is the nearby town of Bernkastel. You can get to Bernkastel from Cochem by taking the train to Wittlich, then the bus to Kues. Walk across the bridge to Bernkastel.

Unless you are wanting to see how the wines are made, or you are considering bringing home several cases, if you just want to sample wines, I found it more productive to just eat in a restaurant and tour their wine list. You'll probably sample more good wines that way then you would at a single winery.

A particularly nice wine I stumbled on when I had lunch in Bernkastel was a dessert wine called a "beern Auslese" (I hope I got the spelling correct). Auslese is a wine made from grapes picked after the normal harvest date, when they are very ripe and sugary. They are normally picked one bunch at a time. Beern Auslese is picked grape by grape. Expensive yes; good, yes, yes (... and I don't normally like sweet wines. It's a dessert wine; definitely not a dinner wine.).

Curious as to where your winery is? Can you provide some of your grape types and wines? That will help for suggestions within Germany.

Traben-Trarbach is a nice Mosel River wine town near Cochem (see Lee's post) with a unique wine tour. The tour is on my bucket list:

https://www.traben-trarbach.de/en/underground2/articles/underground.html

(Click on the "Flyer" link at the very bottom of the page above as well. A private tour in English isn't cheap but might be worthwhile.) There is regular train service throughout the day between Cochem and Traben-Trarbach.

Bernkastel, another good Lee-tip, is a stunning town that you should not skip. A very pleasant way to get there is by day cruise boat from Traben-Trarbach. The float takes 1 3/4 hours. See Traben-Trarbach > Bernkastel > Traben-Trarbach time table for boat schedule (5 departures daily in summer months) near the bottom left corner of this page.

Castle tours (Reichsburg in Cochem, Burg Eltz nearby) as well as the Bundesbank Bunker(Cochem) and the 1-hour cruise to Beilstein will probably compete with the wineries for your time in this area.

So Cochem does make for a good base town; several of its in-town wineries may be offering what you have in mind too. The Hieronimi place, just across the bridge from the old-town zone, has a wine garden where you can do a tasting session, no reservation required:

https://hieronimi-wein.de/index.html

Cochem winery tour options:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g198637-Activities-c36-Cochem_Rhineland_Palatinate.html

Our winery is Chris Daniel Winery in Eastern Washington. Currently we have Viognier, Chardonnay, Sangiovese, Blend, Syrah, Malbec, Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. thank you for asking.

Thank you Lee. LOTS of good information. All our wines have zero residual sugar. Sweet is not my thing. The one you mentioned is a perfect dessert wine. In Canada, they make it and it is an ice wine because of the lateness of the harvest.

that's a lot of varieties! Are they all from your vineyard?

I'm used to seeing European vineyards with just one or two varieties...

Well, I'm partial to Franken Wines. They are generally lighter, fruity and not that sweet. Mostly white, some Rose and Rotling and more specialized reds. Silvaner, Müller-Thurgau, Bacchus, Riesling, Kerner, Domina, Spätburgunder’ Weißer Burgunder and Scheurebe. Probably telling you what you already know. My favorite region is along the Main from Kitzingen north through the Mainschleife bei Volkach toward Schweinfurt, and eastwards; Iphofen, Priechsenstadt, Handtal. Looks to be rather different from your Winery. If I’m not mistaken many German wine types are grafted to US root stock. I’m no wine expert but have been to many Fest, tasting and a few tours and regularly buy direct from Winzer. I think you can get along in English. Maybe reach out to Fränkischer Weinbauverband if you are interested https://www.frankenwein-aktuell.de/Kontakt.html
https://www.germanwines.de/tourism/wine-growing-regions/franken/

@mchpp most memorable wine I ever had was an Oberpfalz Spätburgunder. one of our party took home a case as their carryon (in the before times). Red German wines are very rare here in the US.

The smallest wine region reportedly in Germany is in the Oberpfalz on the Danube southeast of Regensburg and Walhalla. The history goes back to Roman occupation.

Thanks EVERYONE!! So much information. My husband is a consultant for vineyards/orchards in eastern Washington, USA. We source all our grapes from his growers. we are in the middle of crush now.
I will be taking this trip with a girlfriend. We were wanting a spot for about 3 days where we can taste good wine and totally chill. Enjoy the scenery and people.

Eltville would be my recommendation. You are right in the middle of the Rheingau, surrounded by vineyards, the town is full of winding lanes and lots of half-timbered buildings, plenty of good restaurants, charming little hotels and there is a lovely panorama walk along the Rhein without any trains in your way.
A visit to Eberbach Monastery, Kiedrich, and Rüdesheim is easily done by train or bus. All have lots of wineries.

Russ, that brochure is great. Thanks!!
Everyone, I am now trying to decide between Eltville and Cochem for a base. Any locals on this thread?
Thank you once again.

Jo is quite local. I took her advice and spent a long day in Eltville and had a fabulous time both with the Eberbach winery tour and and later a concert in the ex-monastery. I also had a light meal and wine at the outdoor wine garden, then did a nice long walk through some vineyards up to the monastery for the concert. I could see vineyards all the way up and down the river but didn’t have a chance to get to others. Certainly a good choice for a base.

I’ve been to Cochem too, on a different trip. The Mosel river vineyards look very different and the wines taste quite different. How long do you have? Can you do both? I did not take a winery tour there, just had a few meals with local wines. I put a bike tour on my bucket list on the spot - the bike path along the river is gorgeous. Haven’t made it back yet, but someday…

And I agree about the Franconia reds…amazing. And another whole different feel to the area. Guess you’ll have to stay longer!

Go to Rudesheim and take a short cruise on the Rhine. Do some wine tasting in Rudesheim.

Okay, Eltville it is for a base. Now for accommodations and wine tours. Thanks for the suggestion of a boat ride on the Rhine. THANKS everyone!! Simply the best!