Esslinger Weinerlebnisweg - Felsenweg

Untere Beutau 7, 73728 Esslingen am Neckar, DE

Experience the historic terraced vineyards in Esslingen. This trail takes you into a unique cultural landscape. It offers you exciting insights into the history and cultivation of the Esslingen wine, the work of the winegrowers and the peculiarities of nature and geology. And, there are fantastic views on the Neckar valley and the medieval district.

Neckarhaldenweg 8, 73728 Esslingen am Neckar, DE

This gate secured the accress to the city from the vineyards. Even today you can see the guide stones for external grids. The superstructure had to be restored after fire in the 19th century.

Mettinger Straße 12, 73728 Esslingen am Neckar, DE

There were lots of spiritual institutions in the medieval city of Esslingen. Besides the Parish church, its chapels and six mendicant monsteries there were lots of important locations of trade and administration, the so called „Pfleghöfe“ – they belonged to the Cathedral Chapter of Speyer and Konstanz but also to monasteries like Salem, Sankt Blasien, Bebenhausen and Denkendorf.
They were bases for the administration of land in the city and the surroundings, but also for the storage and sales of agricultural products. They became representive offices to promote the awareness and the prestige of the monastery.

Oberer Neckarhaldenweg, 73728 Esslingen am Neckar, DE

The shelters were important bases for working and life in the vineyard. There they stored tools, but on the other hand it was also a shady place fort he meals and a protected place against rain and storms.
If you could hear something banging or rattling in the vineyard, so it usually was the „Wengertschütz“ – the protector, who hunted unloved grape thieves with whips, ratchets and guns. However, children who tried grapes did not have to fear. It was just a frightening shot in
order to evict blackbirds, crows and other birds.

Mettinger Straße 46, 73728 Esslingen am Neckar, DE

Since the middle of the seventieth organic herbicide have been used more and more instead off pest control with animals. Fauna remains uneffected and offers a biotope for beneficial speciose organisms,
who repel pest.

Mettinger Straße 46, 73728 Esslingen am Neckar, DE

The image of the city and the landscape around Esslingen are very much affected by the terraced vineyards. The arrangement of the dry stone walls can be better seen from the other side of the Neckar valley and are typical for the steep slopes in Esslingen.

Mettinger Straße 103/105, 73728 Esslingen am Neckar, DE

Historical terraces can be cultural monuments for different reasons. The vineyards at the Neckarhalde and the Schenkenberg are among the most impressive and well preserved steep slopes of the central Neckar area. There is a cultured landscaped connection to the historical urban centre of Esslingen. The view of Esslingen does not only include the church spires or the Esslingen castle (“Burg Esslingen”), but also the terraced vineyards with the distinctive fish bone design at the steep slopes of the Neckar valley.

Gayernweg 55, 73728 Esslingen am Neckar, DE

It is quite tight in the cavity! Just imagine that the winegrowers spent the whole day at all weathers in the wineyard and so the refuge were very important for them. Here they found protection against
severe weather, from cold and snow. Mainl they used the cave in summer as cool shady place to have a brak and to store their work tools.

Gayernweg 55, 73728 Esslingen am Neckar, DE

For kilometers there are dry walls in the Neckar valley built without mechanical assistance. The walls in the hillside save the warmth of the sun and during the night they give it back to the environment. Dry walls are not only the „tiled stoves“ of the vineyards, but also evidence of ancient rural craftmenship. The skill to put natural stones without mortar one on each other as well as working with wood are two of the oldest building techniques of the mankind. Just think of the well known building sites like the pyramids in Egypt, the rice-terraces in Thailand or the ruins of Machu Pichu.
For the steep vineyards at the river Neckar a total surface area of up to 5000 sqare meters of dry walls per hectare were counted. With their many small structures they offer a habitat for an interesting, often Mediterranean-like lifeworld. This includes so called houseleek, rue, stonecrop, birthwort as well as common wall lizards, smooth snakes and Italian cricket

Gayernweg 55, 73728 Esslingen am Neckar, DE

The Swabian Mercury of 04th October 1851 reports about a new building at Gayernwer 65:
“Our attractive region has got a new jewel (…) the cottage got the name Weißeck due to the position and the erector.” Carl Jakob Weiß ordered to build this summer house in his experimental vineyard, where he tested grape varieties for the production of sparkling wine.
Germany’s oldest champagne manufacture was founded in Esslingen in 1826 by Georg Christian Kessler (1787 – 1842).
Did you know that in the vineyards around Esslingen grow grapes for outstanding wintner’s sparkling wines for the rest of the day or to click glasses at special events?