Naturland-certified organic estate in Escherndorf farming 16.6 hectares, with Silvaner past 60 percent of plantings on the Lump and neighbouring Muschelkalk slopes.
Tip: Ask for the Escherndorfer Lump Silvaner trocken, the estate's calling card since Naturland conversion.
Address: Bocksbeutelstr. 15, 97332 Escherndorf, Germany, Franken
Mainviereck red-wine estate at over 60 percent Spaetburgunder and Fruehburgunder on red Buntsandstein at Buergstadt, run by Paul and Sebastian Fuerst since 2018.
Tasting: Sales by appointment, weekdays 9am to noon and 2 to 5pm, Saturdays 10am to 3pm.
Tip: The Buergstadter Centgrafenberg bottlings are the estate's flagship Pinot Noir; book ahead, allocations sell out.
The Steigerwald's founding Silvaner estate on gypsum keuper, site of the earliest documented Franconian Silvaner planting on 6 April 1659, farming 73.4 hectares today.
Tasting: Vinothek tastings and cellar tours at the Schlossplatz estate office.
Tip: The estate's own records cite 25 vines planted in 1659, ask staff to point out the historical planting documentation.
Naturland and Respekt-BIODYN certified Wuerzburg estate farming 43.3 hectares on the Stettener Stein and Wuerzburger Stein, with Silvaner and Riesling as declared mainstays.
Tasting: Vinothek and garden tastings at the Mittlerer Steinbergweg estate.
Tip: The Stettener Stein VDP.Grosse Lage bottlings need hand cultivation on shell-limestone slopes; ask which vintage is currently pouring.
Frickenhausen am Main estate combining two Franconian growing families since 1976, farming 11.4 hectares of Muschelkalk and Buntsandstein terroir with Silvaner leading at 60 percent.
Tasting: Cellar-door sales and tastings, family-run since the 1976 Bickel-Stumpf merger.
Tip: Some VDP.Erste and Grosse Lage plots are still worked by hand; ask about the current single-site bottlings.
Iphofen family estate farming 108.5 hectares of Steigerwald gypsum keuper since 1630, with Silvaner and Riesling from the Julius-Echter-Berg Grosse Lage.
Tasting: Vinothek tastings on Ludwigstrasse in Iphofen's old town; group visits by appointment.
Tip: Silvaner and Riesling are described by the estate as its calling cards; start a tasting there before the Scheurebe.
Family estate on Iphofen's central marketplace since 1839, farming 11.2 hectares of Keuper soil, with Silvaner from the Julius-Echter-Berg Grosse Lage as the flagship.
Tasting: Vinothek on Iphofen's historic Marktplatz, with weekday, Saturday and by-arrangement Sunday hours.
Tip: The estate also bottles a red Domina, an unusual choice for Iphofen, worth trying alongside the Silvaner GG.
