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Featured Destination: Assmannshausen, Germany |
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| Text and photos
by Kwon Ki-wang |
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| Assmannshausen, a German village writers like the great Johann Wolfgang
von Goethe frequented, is the largest producer of red wine among the
villages along the Rhine River. Here, old-fashioned wooden buildings
and wine storehouses that helped define the romanticism of Europe
and people who make wine the old fashioned way invite the connoisseurs
of wine. Visiting the little village on a fine autumn day, I became
intoxicated by a sip of fine wine and the feeling of autumn in a vineyard. |
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As the scorching summer weather begins to recede, giving way to the
cool autumn breezes, the villages along the Rhine become more beautiful
than at any other time of the year. The wind blowing from the river
awakes autumn that lay dormant within each grape, and spreads the
gift of the season throughout the vineyard. For hundreds of years,
the river has flowed unchanged and the people made homes along the
river. Who was it that said a river is the lifeline of all living
creatures?
It may be for this reason that people near the river appear to live
in comfort and contentment. As the river flows steady, though the
times have changed, the villages along the river retain the storied
past.
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| When I first saw Assmannshausen, a small
antiquated village long the Rhine, it looked as lovely as a tiny pebble
that has been carefully washed with river water, It was purely by
accident that I stopped in this romantic village while traveling along
the Rhine. But, as time passed, I became increasingly sentimental
and had the illusion that the stories of the village's past have lured
me to this place. |
 Goethe's
songs of grapes
About two hundred years ago, Goethe followed the river, made his way
into Assmannshausen and soon became fascinated with the beauty of
the place. What he particularly loved was the feeling and the song
of autumn he found in the ripening bunches of grapes.
Flourish greener, as ye clamber,
Oh ye leaves, to seek my chamber, Up the trellis'd vine
on high!
May ye swell, twin-berries tender,
Juicier far, - and with more splendor
From <Autumn Feelings>, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1775 |
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It is said that the
romantic poets and artists of the 18th and 19th centuries used to
gather at Assmannshausen to discuss literature and art over red wine.
Goethe was known to have particularly loved this village and frequented
the place not far from his home in Frankfurt.
Putting aside the association with a literary great, the captivating
sight of Assmannshausen in early autumn is more than enough to arouse
the imaginations of travelers with poetic souls. That is probably
why I was so strongly tempted to be drunk in the sense of romanticism
left on the riverside by the great author and his friends. Assmannshausen
is widely known for Spatburgunder, a variety of red wine grapes that
is rare even in Germany. Unlike ordinary red wines, wine made from
Spatburgunder has a relatively light rosy and clear color that make
it popular even among those who don't much care for red wine. The
60km-long Rhine Gorge, located between Koblenz and Rudesheim on the
Rhine Highway, is Europe's most representative wine production center.
The red wine produced in the region is known for clean aftertaste,
and white wine for dryness.
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900 years of wine making in every
corner
Assmannshausen is a small village but its history dates back some
900 years. In 1108, people from bordering France moved her and formed
a village and called it Hasemanshusen. In keeping with its reputation
as an ancient town, Assmannshausen boasts a number of beautiful wooden
buildings that were constructed hundreds of years ago. Of them, Hotel
Krone is widely known for its first-class cuisine, as well as for
its stunning architecture. The hotel's rooms were built hundreds of
years ago of the finest-quality wood, and the interior is a sight to behold. |
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Even the squeaking noise from the worn floor
seems refined. And the seasonally flowering garden in front of the hotel
adds charm of its own. Looking from the hotel to the other side of the Rhine,
an ancient castle is visible midway up the side of a mountain. Dating to
around 900 AD. Rhinestein Castle was built by Otto III, the then German
emperor, and dedicated to the archbishopric of Mainz. Later, the castle
was used as a royal palace and used mainly as a fortress. Cannons set into
the walls testify to the castle's history. The interior of the castle, marked
by a array of arch-shaped ceilings is wondrous and the hall where the lords
of the castle roamed is decorated with various curios in the manner of a
museum.
The road from the Hotel Krone into the village connects to a narrow alley
that leads to the midway point of a hill. In the sloping vineyard around
the area, Spatburgunder grapes are grown. These are the raw materials for
creating Germany's best red wine. On the hill at the back of the village,
a gondola transports people to the Niederwald Monument on the mountaintop
for viewing the vast vineyards that lie along the slopes. From here, visitors
enjoy panoramic view of the vineyards, Rhine and Rudesheim. On the crest
of the mountain stands a gigantic Statue of Germania, which commemorates
the reunification of Germany in 1871. The statue is so huge that it's rather
awkward in its surroundings, but local residents cherish it.
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Festival of green grapes and red wine People cultivate
grapes and make wine in ssmannshausen but they go to Rudesheim to
drink toasts. Rudesheim, also known as a city of wine, bears the nickname
"Pearl of the Rhine" and welcomes a continuous stream of
tourists year round. If Assmannshausen can be compared to a shy country
girl, then Rudesheim could be a well-dressed, mature woman.
Depending on the season, taverns specializing in wine, in every corner
of the town, throw open their doors each night and fill the air with
the sounds of joyful music. |
| With the arrival of autumn, villages
along the Rhine hold wine festivals and celebrate the year's harvest.
There is no doubt that the Rhine is the lifeline of Germany's modern
industrial economy, but villages in the gorge still bear an old, unchanging
atmosphere. As autumn deepens and the aroma of wine takes hold, people
usher in the harvest season and recollect the days gone by. On these
fine autumn days, as well as during the winter, the fragrance of red
wine will linger round the people of small village Rhine, Assmannshausen |
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| Kwon Ki-wang travels
around the world to photograph and write about the beauty of the scenic
spots he finds. |
