The University's Wine
Vineyards owned by the university
On the occasion of the Foundation Festival on May 11, 2018, the university will present a university wine for the first time in 200 years from vineyards formerly cultivated by the university. Until 1818, the university cultivated its own wine on 6,000 m² of vineyards at Pfülben; today, the area is owned by the Trockene Schmitts winery from Randersacker. In cooperation with Paul and Bruno Schmitt a special bottling could be realized. On offer are a Silvaner and a Riesling, from one of Randersacker's best sites.
For more than 250 years, the vineyards represented an important part of the university's assets and served, for example, to supply the university members. Around 120,000 m² of a total vineyard area many times larger was located on the sunny slopes near Randersacker. The properties at Pfülben are among the oldest and were sold in 1818 for reasons unknown so far. In the great swap with Bavaria in 1821, when the university exchanged widely scattered areas of varying nature for a closed forest area, all vineyards still in possession were lost.
It is all the more gratifying that, despite the adverse source situation, it has been possible to locate a concrete area of former university property. Fortunately, wine is still grown there today, although the former structure of the vineyards has clearly changed due to the land consolidation.
