Schloss Ebringen

©joergens.mi/Wikipedia

One Picture is Worth a Thousand Words is valid for the photo taken by a friend from the Freiburg Wikipedia community. It depicts the village of Ebringen, featuring its church and castle amidst its extensive vineyards.

Yesterday, the Badische Zeitung organized a visit to the castle. Ebringen's mayor, Dr. Hans-Peter Widmann, guided our group of about 30 people. Hans-Peter is a historian and a good friend of mine.

Although the Romans already grew wine in the region, the earliest written documentation dates back to the beginning of the 8th century. Hans-Peter claimed that Ebringen is the oldest winegrower village on German territory. As a highlight, this year's German Weinkönigin (wine queen), Katrin Lang, born in Ebringen and a studied oenologist, accompanied the group.

The newly installed AI-Bing on my iPad told me: There is a baroque-style castle in Ebringen that was built by Lucas Grass, governor of the St. Gallen monastery, on the site of a dilapidated previous building. The castle stands above a large vaulted cellar that offered space for around 300,000 liters of wine since viticulture was (is?) the primary source of income for the village.

In fact, since its foundation in 719, the monastery of St. Gall rapidly gained influence. In a donation around the year 720, Ebringen vineyards were bequeathed to the monastery. The deed represents the oldest written evidence of viticulture between Freiburg and Basel and the first real estate of the monastery of Saint Gall.

Following the plague of 1349, St.Gallen may have lacked the personnel to control its distant dominion. The Lords von Hornberg, in turn, needed an influential ally to fend off the claims of the Freiburg nobility to their Schönberg domain and acquired Ebringen.

In 1621, at the beginning of the 30 Years' War, during its second half, Ebringen and its surroundings suffered greatly - the Princely Abbey of Saint Gall reacquired its undivided dominion.

The new castle with pavilion, fountain, and pleasure garden.
A covered passerelle gave the monks direct access to the village church.

While St. Gall's prince abbot Leodegar Bürgisser (1696 to 1717) entertained the idea of selling the not-very-lucrative dominion of Ebringen, Lukas Graß, who ruled as provost in Ebringen from 1705 to 1725, built his seat, Ebringen Castle, in the years 1711-1713. Today, the building serves as the town hall.

The village of Ebringen marks both the beginning and the end of the monastery of Saint Gall, as it was also its last remaining domain on German territory until 1805.

Ebringen Castle today

The village church is a stone's throw from the castle.

The mayor, standing in the doorway, is waiting for us.

Red Baron steps on the doormat with Ebringen's coat of arms,
showing the horns of the Hornbergs and a vine knife added later.

Red Baron listens attentively to the mayor (©BZ)

In the chapter hall, baroque putti and ...

... portraits of St. Gall abbots.
Abbot Coelestin (1687-1696) was a professor at the University of Salzburg
and went to Rome as a cardinal "papabile." He was St. Gall's last great Latin author.

The original governor's study serves now as the mayor's office.

God watches the activities of the provost and the mayor.

The monastery's archive cabinets in today's wedding room

Katrin Lang steps down the castle's staircase.

Entrance to the wine cellar

The castle's impressive wine cellar (©Schlossgut Ebringen)

Katrin presents a 2018 Cremant Schlossgut Ebringen Pinot Noir
 with her certain smile.              

We are tasting a sparkling Rosé Brut.

Andreas Engelmann, the administrator at Schlossgut Ebringen,
took the visitors into the world and the taste of Ebringen wine.

Here is the account of the visit as published in the Badische Zeitung on April 1.

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