Fürst Estate

Fraconia region
Germany

The Fürst family has been involved in viticulture since 1638.
In 1975, whilst attending the Geisenheim school for viticulture Paul Fürst’s father, Rudolf, passed away suddenly. Paul immediately left his studies and at age 21 took over the estate to carry on the tradition in the cramped Fürst family residence in Bürgstadt.
In 1979 Paul and his wife Monika started building a new estate on the outskirts of town. This included a new residence and state of the art cellar atop the Centgrafenberg vineyard. The new site provides breathtaking views of the Main river valley and the picturesque medieval town of Miltenberg.

Under Paul Fürst’s tenure the estate has grown from six to 37 acres. Primary holdings are 27 acres of the Bürgstadter Centgrafenberg a pure south-facing moderate to steep site. Its makeup is weathered, colored sandstone with loam content that varies from light to heavy across the vineyard. It is planted 40% to Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir), 20% Riesling, 15% Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), 7% Frühburgunder (a mutation of Pinot Noir – Madeleine Noir) and Müller-Thurgau, 6% Silvaner and 6% other varieties.

The vineyard takes its name from the Bürgstadter Centgraf (Centgraf is the leader of a settlement of 100 people). Smaller holdings are in the Volkacher Karthäuser vineyard (7.5 acres) and the Grosshembacher Bischofsberg (2.5 acres). The Volkacher site is 80km due east from Bürgstadt and is yet another steep, south-facing vineyard planted 45% to Silvaner, 35% to Pinot Blanc and 20% to Riesling and made up of the more typical soil of Franken – marl and gypsum. The Astheim monastery of Carthusian (Karthäuser) monks is nearby. The Grosshembacher site is close to Bürgstadt and planted 50% to Domina (crossing of Portugieser and Pinot Noir) and 25% each to Riesling and Silvaner. It is steep and terraced, south-facing, composed primarily of weathered, colored sandstone. It was formerly a possession of the Prince Bishops of Mainz.

Work in the vineyards is done with great care. It is all done by hand including cut-back to one bow per vine, thinning the foliage to assure good air circulation, cutting out fruit to assure reduced yield and very careful selection during the harvest. Treatment of the vines and soil is near organic and as close to natural as possible.

Paul Fürst makes remarkably elegant wines for a region renowned for rusticity. He produces wines of many different styles. The traditional whites such as Silvaner, Riesling and Müller-Thurgau offer crystalline purity with a near silky palate, but true to varietal and terroir. For example, there is a distinct difference between the Centgrafenberg and the Volkacher Karthäuser Silvaner with the first more filigree, finer, racier and the latter more rustic and minerally. Quite different is the Pinot Blanc (Weissburgunder) which is made in a white Burgundy style and fermented in small barriques including malolactic fermentation. Oz Clarke and Steven Spurrier’s Fine Wine Guide state that Paul Fürst’s Weissburgunder is the most Burgundian white produced in Germany. Some very special noble sweet wines from Pinot Noir and Riesling are produced in miniscule quantities.

Paul Fürst’s big challenge are red wines. The western portion of Franken has always been producing a good quantity of red wine especially Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir). The old, traditional style of Pinot Noir, was never mistaken for red Burgundy. This started to change in the mid-‘80s when Paul began experimenting with new vinification methods more akin in style to red Burgundy. His 1990 Pinot Noir was a breakthrough and helped establish the variety as a serious category in Germany.
In a blind tasting connoisseurs mistook the wine for a Burgundy from the Commune of Beaune.

Today fermentation is done on the skins and the wine is matured in mostly French oak. The wines show very good aging potential. The 1990 still tastes very young today.  The best reds are in order of increasing quality:
– Parzival, a red wine cuvee of Pinot Noir and Domina, Frühburgunder
- Spätburgunder Spätlese “R” is the top wine.

Paul Fürst also makes superb Sekt a cuvee from Pinot Noir and Pinot Blanc. The estate has a separate sparkling wine production facility.

The exquisite fruit schnapps from wild raspberries and wild sour cherries merit special attention.

The estate produces about 8000 cs of half white and half red wine. Average yield is 56hl/ha.

Best recent vintages are 1990, 1993, 1994,1997, 1999 and 2000.

The estate is a member of the VDP Franken (Franconia) and a founding member of the German barrique forum. In the 2003 Gault Millau Wine Buying Guide, the winery is awarded with the title of Winery of the year.

Thumbnail Pictures
(click to enlarge):

Owner / winemaker
Paul Fürst

Winery
(note the red
sandstone pillars,
from the vineyards)

Bürgstadter Centgrafenberg
vineyard

Estate Profile: