Vineyards & Wineries in Stuttgart

Ger­many is famous for beer, but if you look at the hills sur­round­ing Stuttgart, it’s easy to under­stand why the region has invest­ed in wine pro­duc­tion. Grapes have been plant­ed on its hills since Roman times and local vin­ters are fre­quent­ly hon­ored with awards. Stuttgart has more than 17.5 hectares of vine­yards, most of which are with­in easy reach of the city cen­ter by pub­lic trans­porta­tion. Whether you want to plan an inde­pen­dent vis­it, attend a tast­ing event, or join an orga­nized tour, you’re sure to enjoy a qual­i­ty win­ery experience.

Check out this short video and read on for plen­ty of infor­ma­tion about explor­ing Stuttgart’s vine­yards and wineries.

Region and Varieties

Stuttgart is the cap­i­tal of the state of Baden-Würt­tem­berg, but Baden and Würt­tem­berg are con­sid­ered as two sep­a­rate wine regions. They are the third and fourth largest wine regions in Ger­many, respec­tive­ly. Wine-mak­ing coop­er­a­tives are very com­mon in both.

Baden focus­es on grapes of the Pinot vari­ety, with more than half of its vine­yard area plant­ed with Spät­bur­gun­der (Pinot noir), Graubur­gun­der (Pinot gris) and Weißbur­gun­der (Pinot blanc). Baden is also known for the white vari­ety Gut­edel (Chas­se­las), since it is prac­ti­cal­ly the only region in Ger­many to grow it. Oth­er white vari­eties like Müller Thur­gau and Ries­ling are also impor­tant in the region.

Würt­tem­berg has a long tra­di­tion of grow­ing the Trollinger grape vari­ety. They make a light, fruity red wine, which can be enjoyed young. Würt­tem­berg also pro­duces the clas­sic, high­er-qual­i­ty Lem­berg­er, a strong, dark red wine that ages well. Addi­tion­al red grape vari­eties include Spät­bur­gun­der (Pinot Noir), Caber­net, Syrah and Mer­lot. Württemberg’s main white vari­eties are Ries­ling, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Sauvi­gnon Blanc, but Kern­er and Müller Thur­gau are also plant­ed here.

The Museum of Viticulture

The Wein­bau­mu­se­um is locat­ed in the his­toric “Alte Kel­ter” build­ing in the wine-grow­ing vil­lage Stuttgart-Uhlbach, It is an excel­lent place to get start­ed on your jour­ney to dis­cov­er Stuttgart’s vine­yards and winer­ies. Through paint­ings, pho­tographs, and videos you will learn about every step of the wine-mak­ing process: from build­ing ter­races to sup­port the vine­yards to plant­i­ng to har­vest­ing to press­ing to aging and, of course, the cul­ture of drink­ing wine.

In the beau­ti­ful glass-walled “Vinothek” with­in the muse­um you can sam­ple a large vari­ety of the areas’ wine. The selec­tion of wine from more than 20 of the region’s top wine­mak­ers changes reg­u­lar­ly, so there’s always some­thing new to try. You can also enjoy small dish­es from the kitchen and pur­chase wine to take home. On most Fri­days a spe­cial wine tast­ing is offered which includes three kinds of wine and a snack.

Wine Trails

The city of Stuttgart has marked sev­er­al “Wein­wan­der­wege” to guide you in your explo­ration of the many grape-grow­ing areas around the city. You can find maps and descrip­tions here.

Per­haps the most inter­est­ing path is the one from Obertürkheim to Uhlbach, Roten­berg and Untertürkheim. It takes you up steep-sided vine­yard slopes with beau­ti­ful views. Along the way you can vis­it the Muse­um of Vini­cul­ture in Uhlbach, the Sepul­chral Chapel in Roten­berg, and sev­er­al restau­rants serv­ing Swabi­an specialties.

The best time of year to wan­der the vine­yards is either in spring or autumn. In spring the hills are cov­ered in green, and new vine ten­drils reach to curl around the wires strung up and down the hills. In autumn the leaves turn to red and gold and the vines are heavy with grapes, so you can also wit­ness the harvesting.

Wine Tours

Guid­ed tours are also a great way to explore Stuttgart’s vine­yards and wineries.
Many winer­ies host their own guid­ed tours. Get insid­er infor­ma­tion about their cul­ti­va­tion prac­tices, eco­log­i­cal aware­ness, and vin­tages. Tick­ets also include a tast­ing of two or more wines.

Stuttgart-Mar­ket­ing GmbH offers a pri­vate “Wein­wan­derung” that include a knowl­edge­able guide, a walk from Obertürkheim to Untertürkheim through var­i­ous vine­yards, a vis­it to the Sepul­chral Chapel, and a tour of the Muse­um of Viti­cul­ture. Wine tast­ing and a Swabi­an meal are also pos­si­bil­i­ties on the tour. Tours are avail­able in Ger­man, Eng­lish, French, Span­ish, and Ital­ian. See their web­site for detailed pric­ing information.

You can search for more guid­ed tours in Stuttgart on sites like Weinerlebnistour.de and Weinwanderung.net.

Sparkling Wine

Germany’s old­est sparkling wine cel­lar is locat­ed in Esslin­gen am Neckar, just 20 min­utes from Stuttgart. Kessler has been pro­duc­ing sparkling wine or “Sekt” since 1826. Once on the executive board of Veuve Clic­quot, the Kessler founder was well-versed in wine­mak­ing tech­niques of the Cham­pagne region. So it’s no sur­prise they offer high qual­i­ty! The Kessler brand was even des­ig­nat­ed the offi­cial “Sekt” for state recep­tions of the Ger­man gov­ern­ment by then-chan­cel­lor Kon­rad Ade­nauer in 1956.

You can vis­it the Kessler win­ery and its impres­sive cel­lars. They offer three types of tours in var­i­ous lan­guages, although tours for indi­vid­u­als are offered only in Ger­man. Tours include a tast­ing of three wines. See their web­site for details.

Besenwirtschaften

“Broom Tav­erns” are a homey way to dis­cov­er local Swabi­an wines. These tem­po­rary tav­erns are oper­at­ed by Wengert­ern, Swabi­an wine­mak­ers. They receive tem­po­rary licens­es to open their homes up to 12 weeks a year for up to 40 peo­ple at a time in order to sell home­made wine and food. It’s a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to try local wine with peo­ple from the com­mu­ni­ty and taste spe­cial­ties like maultaschen.

You can find them by keep­ing an eye out for a broom hang­ing on a door. Fly­ers and signs will also point you to Besen­wirtschaften. Or you can take a mod­ern approach and search for a con­ve­nient spot on Besentermine.de.

Wine Festivals

The Stuttgart Wine Vil­lage, or “Wein­dorf,” is a very pop­u­lar fes­ti­val. Every year more than a mil­lion vis­i­tors attend this pop­up vil­lage in Stuttgart’s Mark­t­platz and Schloss­platz. For 12 days around the end of August and begin­ning of Sep­tem­ber, you can sam­ple wines from more than 125 dif­fer­ent vine­yards in addi­tion to a vari­ety of region­al culi­nary specialties.

The Fell­bach Fall Wine Fair or “Fell­bach­er Herb­st” is an excel­lent oppor­tu­ni­ty to dis­cov­er local wines, par­tic­u­lar­ly wines that are unlike­ly to be known out­side the region. You can also sam­ple wines from Fellbach’s sis­ter towns in France, Italy, and Hun­gary. The week­end fair is also a fes­tive occa­sion fea­tur­ing a parade with a dif­fer­ent annu­al theme and a fire­works display.