20213041_WGDE2021_ENGL

The May family have made wine for 300 years,
in 1998 they founded their own estate
Benni May. You could say he is the
MacGyver of winemakers.
STRAIGHT TALK
Let’s return to the weather which, sadly, I
do have to mention, despite all the fun
and games. “A total catastrophe.” “A year
of extremes.” These are quotes by Nina
Bunzelt from Nordheim, evoking the
vintages 2011, 2020 and partially also
2019. All these years had one thing in
common: late spring frost. This miserable
beast that makes life difficult for the wine
growers in Franken. My heart bleeds
when I hear of the significant loss of fruit:
in some places 30%, in others 90%. And
this happens to people who do
backbreaking work in their vineyards
year on year – and a single night of frost
kills an entire vintage!
FRANKEN WINE REGION
Growing area
Approx. 6100 hectares
Administrative Split
3 districts (Bereiche), 23 collective sites
(Grosslagen), 216 single sites (Einzellagen)
Soils
Triassic limestone, Keuper (marl), Triassic
sandstone
Important Grape Varieties
Silvaner, Riesling, Müller-Thurgau,
Spätburgunder
Vineyard Chapel
Winegrowers’ Association
Frankenland GmbH, Hertzstrasse 12
97076 Würzburg
www.frankenwein-aktuell.de
142 falstaff Wine Guide Germany 2021