"Friedrich Hölderlin", Schwarzriesling, "Wilhelm Hauff", Spätburgunder or "Eduard Mörike", Samtrot, that's how it might look on the wine list in the cellar "Zum Viertelesschlotzer" in Lauffen am Neckar. And whoever orders one of these poets here gets a glass of Kabinett or Spätlese, all wines from the "Lauffener Weingärtner" cooperative. If it is even a "Katzenbeißer", then it comes from the very best site in the region, from the good 500 hectares of vineyards above the railway station in Lauffen, along the Zaber. A partly quite steep terrain, known for red wines of the grape varieties Schwarzriesling, Trollinger, Samtrot and Lemberger.
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| Steep slopes of Lauffen% high above the Zaber% a tributary of the Neckar. |
Now I see many noses wrinkling: Schwarzriesling, Trollinger or even Lemberger! Phew! In the noble wine world, these wines rarely rise to the pedestal. There, wine princes like Pinot noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or - especially in Germany - Riesling are enthroned. Wines sometimes have it almost as hard as poets to achieve fame and glory. Hölderlin, born at the foot of the vineyards in Lauffen, was not entirely unknown among literary figures during his lifetime. But he was considered a romantic melancholic and a mere imitator of the poet prince Schiller. It was not until many decades after his mental derangement and death that Hölderlin's odes, elegies and hymns were classified as the pinnacle of German Romanticism. In his work "Brot und Wein" (Bread and Wine), he makes a Bacchus-Christ figure arise: "...and why poets in meagre times? But they are, you say, like the holy priests of the god of wine, who went from land to land in the holy night".