German Wine and Beer Festivals 2010
March 9, 2010 by Helen Page
Filed under Food
German Wine and Beer Festivals, Germany
Rhine Riesling Vineyards
For connoisseurs of wine and beer, summer is a fantastic time to be in Germany. From Berlin to the Rhineland, there is a great choice of festivals to attend, depending on whether you prefer to conduct your wine-tasting in one of the small towns along the Mosel or in Rudesheim on the Rhine or at wine festivals in the larger towns like Stuttgart, Hamburg, Mainz, Franfurt or Aachen. And then there are the almighty giant beer festivals to keep you merry as well. As a traveller, it’s great being in a town when there is a huge festival on as you get to meet a nice cross-section of people.
A Sampling of Beer and Wine Festivals
Starkbierzeit 2010
Feb. 25 – March 27, 2010: This is Munich’s secret beer festival in spring. Starkbierzeit focuses on strong beers traditionally consumed during Lent. More about Starkbierzeit…
Frühlingsfest – Munich Spring Festival
16 Apr – 2 May 2010: Munich Frühlingfest ends the spring Strong Beer Season. The fair is supposed to be a scaled-down version of Oktoberfest. This year the fair will be held in Theresienwiese – Oktoberfest grounds.
Website: www.muenchnervolksfeste.de
Erlanger Bergkirchweih 2010
May 20 – May 31, 2010: This annual beer festival is a 250 year-old tradition and is celebrated around Pentecost for 12 days. More than 1 million visitors each year come to enjoy Erlangen beer and Franconian dishes. The Bergkirchweih is open from 10:00 to 23:00 daily and you can then roll on to the pubs in downtown Erlangen. Erlangen’s claim to fame is that they were the first to export beer, even before Munich and Kulmbach.
Website: www.der-berg-ruft.de
International Bierbörse 2010
May 27 – September 5, 2010: This sounds like a good excuse to drink beer non-stop for 3 months! Bierbörse is an annual beer exchange festival which is held in 9 German cities. You can sample up to 1,000 different types of beer, including those from 75 countries. What’s more, this is a free event and you only pay for the beer. Bierbörse 2010 starts at Roßmarkt, Gotheplatz in Frankfurt on May 27 and ends at Innenstadt, Schloßplatz in Karlsruhe on September 5, 2010.
Website: www.bierboerse.com
Wine tavern in Rudesheim
Berlin Beer Festival 2010
August 6 – 8, 2010 (tbc): Usually held on the first weekend of August annually, this festival boasts the longest beer garden in the world – one mile long! One million people come to this festival each year. Stalls offer 1,200 types of beer from over 180 breweries from Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium and the UK with a focus on smaller, private breweries. However long it might take to sample 1,200 varieties of beer, the Berlin Beer Festival sounds like a great way to quench your thirst on a hot summer day. Live music and shows also keep the crowd entertained.
Website: www.bierfestival-berlin.de
Aachen Wine Festival 2010
August 26 – 29, 2010: Located in North Rhine Westphalia, Aachen is an attractive Roman spa town, famous for its therapeutic waters, hot springs and 1000-year-old remains. This lovely town hosts a summer wine festival in the town center each year with over 400 wines on offer from 20 or more wineries in Rhineland Palatine. Featured wines include Riesling, Mueller-Thurgau, Kerner, Dornfelder and Spaetburgunder. Good food and wine, music and a generally great atmosphere make this Wine Festival a favorite among locals and tourists alike.
Website: www.aachen.de
Stuttgart Wine Festival 2010 – Hamburg
Aug 2010 (tbc): Just prior to the big Wine Festival in Stuttgart, Stuttgart Wineries bring their wares to Hamburg for 2 weeks at the beginning of August. A wine village is set up in the Hamburg Rathaus Marktplace, complete with wine and beer gardens, regional Stuttgart fare and arts and crafts from the Stuttgart region.
Stuttgart Wine Festival 2010 – Stuttgart
Aug 25 – Sep 5, 2010: The Stuttgart Wine Festival is one of the largest and most beautiful wine festivals in Germany. From the end of August to the beginning of September, the Stuttgart city center is transformed into a festive wine village. 120 wine alcoves with traditional decor offer up over 250 wines from the region, including Trollinger, Riesling, Kerner, Müller-Thurgau, Schwarzriesling, Ruländer, Schillerwein, Lemberger and Weißherbst. With so much wine flowing, the atmosphere is bound to be jolly. Great music and food complement the warm and friendly atmosphere.
Website: www.stuttgart-tourist.de/ENG/leisure/weindorf.htm
Baskets of wine for sale
Mainz Wine Festival 2010
August 26 – 29, 2010 and Sep 2 – 5: The Mainz Wine Market (Mainzer Weinmarkt) plays host to over half a million visitors each year. You’ll enjoy wandering through the parks and rose gardens of the town as you go about tasting wines, eating the local fare and checking out the arts and crafts stalls. There is plenty of music to suit every taste and the city is known to be particularly beautiful at this time of year.
Website: www.mainzer-weinmarkt.de/
Mosel Wine Festivals 2010
From April 1 – Oct 31, 2010 (tbc): From early spring through fall, the towns along the Mosel hold “Weinfeste” (wine festivals). Local foods and wines are served and a general party atmosphere prevails. The Mosel Valley is full of vineyards that rise up the hills from the river banks. There is likely to be a wine festival in one town or another every weekend in the Mosel region.
Bernkastel-Kues Wine Festival 2010
From September 2-6, 2010: Bernkastel-Kues Middle Mosel Wine Festival is the largest and most well-known of the Mosel wine festivals. Visitors will enjoy the brilliant fireworks display from Landshut Castle and the colourful winemaker’s procession and the crowning of the Wine Queen.
Website: www.bernkastel.de
Annafest Forchheim 2010
July 25 – August 3, 2010: Forchheim Annafest is an annual fair which takes place in July. Forcheim is on the “cellar-hill” close to Bamberg and Nuremberg and each year up to 500,000 visitors decend upon its beer gardens (over 20 beer gardens and no tents here).
Website: www.forchheim-annafest.de
Kulmbacher Beer 2010
July 31 – August 8, 2010: Kulmbacher is a traditional beer festival in the north of Bavaria. Just for one week in the year, master brewers of Kulmbacher brew their secret formula beer.
Website: www.kulmbacher.de/de/biwo
Rudesheim Wine Festival 2010
August 20 – 23, 2010: Always charming and picturesque, the small Rhine wine village of Rudesheim hosts a Wine Festival that features the wineries of the region as well as food. The festival takes place on the main street and you can enjoy the beautiful views to the Rhine and the vineyards above as you sip your wine. If you feel intimidated about going into the small wine tasting rooms, this is a perfect way to get to know Rudesheim and its wines.
Website: www.ruedesheimer-weinfest.de
Frankfurt Rheingau Wine Festival 2010
Sep 1 – Sep 10, 2010: The Rheingau Wine Festival (Rheingauer Weinmarkt) is Frankfurt’s only wine festival with vintners from the Rheingau offering over 600 types of wines in Fressgasse, one of Frankfurt’s charming small streets. Rieslings are the specialty wines here, reflecting the unique terroir of the Rheingau wine region. Location of festival is “Freßgass´”, Große Bockenheimer Straße / Opernplatz.
Website: www.frankfurt-tourismus.de
Canstatter Volksfest – Stuttgart
Sep 24 – Oct 10, 2010: This Stuttgart Beer Festival claims to be second-only to the Oktoberfest in Munich in terms of size. It began in 1818 as a harvest festival following a famine and has since been taking place at the end of September every year. These days, it provides two weeks of fun with oompah bands in traditional costume, lots of beer inside the marquees and entertainment
Website: www.cannstatter-volksfest.de
Oktoberfest 2010
From 17 Sep – 4 Oct 2010: The countdown has begun. 2010 is the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest and this year’s festival will be bigger and longer. With 14 huge tents (maybe more) to choose from, how do you decide? You’ll need to check the website of each of the tents to see which ones you fancy.
Website: www.oktoberfest.de
Gambrinusfest in Mendig
June 2 – June 5, 2011: Gambrinusfest takes place every 2 years and is the biggest beer festival in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Website: www.mendiger-gambrinusfest.de/
A visit to Germany is not complete without going to a Wine or a Beer Festival. There is plenty on offer so it’s necessary to plan well in order to get maximum coverage.
Did you find the wine and beer festival you were looking for? Please leave me a comment. If there are any other festivals you would like to see on this list, please also let me know.
Food and wine tour
Bavarian Beer and Food tour
We will be visiting southern Germany (Munich and south) from 02-15 May and would be interested in any website which can tell us about beer fests in the area during our visit.
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for your query on beer fests. Your visit to southern Germany unfortunately falls outside of the big organized beer festivals season. The only one that I’m aware of is the Munich Spring Festival. If you’re in Munich on May 2nd, you’ll just make it to the last day of the Munich’s Frühlingfest.
Munich’s Frühlingfest ends the spring Strong Beer Season. The fair is supposed to be a scaled-down version of Oktoberfest. This year the fair will be held in Theresienwiese – Oktoberfest’s grounds.
See Munich Spring Festival website: http://www.muenchnervolksfeste.de
The following link provides some information about the Bavarian Beer calendar. “There are no organized beer fests during the summer, simply because there is no need for one.” I’m sure you’ll enjoy lots of beer in the many beer gardens.
http://www.bavarian-beer.de/bavarian-beer.com/index.php?StoryID=1239
It’s a shame you’re not in Germany during Oktoberfest as it’s the 200th anniversary this year.
Enjoy your travels to southern Germany. If you find any nice beer gardens, we would love it if you could share your discoveries with other readers.
Kind regards,
helen@travelsignposts.com