Gutsfest Weingut Schloss Ortenberg

Weingut Schloss Ortenberg — a Baden landmark

Weingut Schloss Ortenberg is one of the prominent estates in Baden viticulture. Located at the foot of the Renaissance Ortenberg Castle (today a youth hostel) in the Ortenau district between Offenburg and Gengenbach, the estate cultivates steep slopes with Riesling, Spätburgunder, Müller-Thurgau, and Grauburgunder. The castle itself has perched above the Kinzig valley since the 11th century — a location that makes the Gutsfest the most scenically beautiful wine event in the Ortenau every year.

The format: Two evenings, one vineyard

The Gutsfest takes place on two summer evenings at the end of June, starting at 6 p.m. each day. The stalls are located directly at the winery, and sales are handled via a voucher system. You can sample the current vintages of the house (single-vineyard wines, sparkling wine, rosé), accompanied by regional cuisine — Flammkuchen, Vesper platters with Black Forest ham, cheese from the Erdle dairy, and summer game. The musical accompaniment is relaxed: acoustic sets in the early evening, DJ sets in the latter half of the night. You sit on beer benches among the rows of vines, with views stretching across the foothills to the Rhine plain and Alsace.

What makes Ortenberg special

Ortenberg, with just over 3,200 inhabitants, is one of the small wine-growing communities in the Ortenau district, but it plays a disproportionately large role: the castle, the estate grounds, the vineyards on the Schloßberg, and the climate produce wines that regularly appear in the top rankings of German wine guides. The Gutsfest is therefore also an industry meeting point — wine merchants, restaurateurs, and gourmets from all over southern Germany flock here.

Sunset as a highlight

The west-facing slope makes the sunset the silent main act of the festival: as the sun sets behind the Black Forest and the Rhine valley glows orange, the mood shifts from convivial to almost meditative. Bring a jacket — the evenings get cool, and the wine helps.