Prince Rudolf

The Princes of Red Wine – A Franconian masterpiece of sandstone and passion

Where the Main carves its valley between the Spessart and the Odenwald, where the coloured sandstone soils glow in the Lower Franconian sun, lies a winery that has rewritten the rules of viticulture. Franconia is the land of Silvaner; the world knows its white wines – and yet, here in Bürgstadt am Main, a kingdom of red wine rises: the Rudolf Fürst Winery.

Since 1638, the Fürst family has looked back on a winemaking tradition spanning almost four centuries. But the real turning point came in 1979, when Paul and Monika Fürst took over the business and completely refocused it on quality. Their son Sebastian, a trained viticulturist, now carries on the legacy side by side with his father . Together, they cultivate the famous vineyards of Centgrafenberg, Hundsrück and Schlossberg – steep terraces whose dry stone walls date back, in some cases, to the Middle Ages. Their terroir is unique in Franconia: red sandstone instead of shell limestone, iron-rich soils that lend the Pinot Noir an incomparable minerality and finesse.

The Fürsts’ philosophy is uncompromising: rather than mass production ,they opt for staggered, selective hand-harvesting, reduced yields and careful, prolonged ageing in wooden barrels. The result is wines that are celebrated both nationally and internationally. The 2012 Schlossberg Pinot Noir was namedRed Wine of the Year 2014 by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. The renowned critic Jancis Robinson described Rudolf Fürst as a “recognised Pinot expert in Germany”, and Stephan Reinhardt recently compared the Fürsts’ collection to that of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.

But the winery wouldn’t be Franconian if it didn’t also produceoutstanding white wines – ranging from the ‘pur Mineral’ range to classic Silvaners and white Burgundies. Visitors to the wine shop on Hohenlindenweg ascend to the stylish wine loft with its open fireplace and panoramic windows – and look down onto the valley that gave the Fürsten their kingdom. The Fürsten of red wine – a Franconian masterpiece crafted from sandstone and passion.