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Example of a journey – Wine-grower / Stuttgart-Vaihingen
For centuries, Vaihingen was known as the biggest wine-producing community in the area of Fildern (south/south-west of Stuttgart). In places where climate and soil conditions made it possible to plant vine-yards, it became possible to sustain more people than with previous, more traditional forms of agriculture (Mann, 2006, p. 59 - 62).
Excerpt from a church book Vaihingen 1813:
Marriage of Bonifacius Elsaeser and Margaretha Seherin on 28th September 1813
(Landeskirchliches Archiv Stuttgart)
Bonifacius Elsaeser's ancestors can be traced back to the 16th century. Most of them were wine-growers in Vaihingen.
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On the map from 1827 it is possible to see another indication of a relatively high population (1,422 inhabitants): property was divided among all heirs (“Realteilungsgebiet”). For this reason, very small lots of land are seen on the map. Ultimately, after several divisions, the families did not have enough land to farm and survive on. |
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Original map by Wuerttemberg’s land survey: Map Vaihingen 1827, scale 1:2.500 (© Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart, Stadtmessungsamt) |
At first, only red wine and white wine are mentioned. Later, several types of wine: Silvaner, Elbling, Gutedel and Trollinger are recorded (Beschreibung des Oberamts Stuttgart, 1851, p. 263). The wine-growing plots of land were situated on a south-facing slope towards “Elsental” and contained about “80 Morgen” (in todays’ scale about 25 hectares). Even today, place names in this area, which is called Dachswald, remind us of its vineyard history: “Im Himmel” and “Weinbergweg”.
The original map from 1827 shows that the winepress was situated nearly in the centre of the village (dark building). The winepress in Vaihingen was first mentioned in 1510. In the 1840s there were 132 wine-growers in Vaihingen (Beschreibung des Oberamts Stuttgart, 1851, p. 107).
Wine-production ceased in Vaihingen in the 19th century. In the 1930s the last home-produced wine was served in Vaihingen's local inns (Buehrlen-Grabinger, Kraus, Zurowski, published by, Stuttgart 1993, p. 75).
Children from a good middle-class family, Wuerttemberg, beginning
of 20th century
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Below you will find several suggestions which might be included in a one- or several-day journey:
- sight-seeing tour of Stuttgart-Vaihingen
- view historical documents about wine production, wine-growers and vineyards in the Stuttgart city archive
- hiking through vineyards – “Schimmelhuettenweg”
- hiking through "Falsche Klinge“ – a typical landscape in geological formation of Late Triassic “Keuper”
- ride on a cable railway which is classified as a historical monument
- explore the area around the "Neue Weinsteige“ in Stuttgart
- explore former vineyards and see how they are used today
- visit a wine production museum and a historical winepress
- boat trip on the River Neckar with views of vineyards on steep slopes
- wine-tasting of typical " Wuerttemberger" wine at a wine-growers' cooperative
- visit to the state owned vineyard and wine research center
- experience a local custom called “Besenwirtschaft” – for a limited period every year, wine-makers are allowed to serve their own wine and simple, home-cooked snacks to visitors
- visit and wine tasting in a modernly managed vineyard, which helped promote the Wuerttemberger wine to higher esteem
- view old equipment and tools of the trade in an agricultural museum
- in and around Stuttgart there are opportunities to see other products made from grapes – not only wine
- whatever your interests, there are numerous museums in the State Capital of Stuttgart
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