Winery in the former monastery area Zscheiplitz

For more than a thousand years, the region along the river valleys of the Saale and Unstrut rivers, in southern Saxony-Anhalt, has been characterised by viticulture. In Freyburg itself, the documented history goes back to the year 1248. For generations, viticulture has been an important source of income for the city and has had a lasting influence on the life of the people, the culture and the landscape. In November 1990, Herbert and Irene Pawis, then hobby winemakers, founded what is probably the smallest winery in Germany with an attached ostrich farm, with only 0.5 hectares of cultivated area in the Freyburger Ehraubergen. When Bernard Pawis took over the winery from father Herbert in 1998, the construction of a modern winery in the Lauchaer Straße in Freyburg was started one year later. The area under cultivation grew to 12 hectares through leasing and additional purchases, and the acceptance of the estate into the Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates (VDP) in October 2001 honoured the winegrower's unconditional striving for quality and increased the nationwide recognition. After 8 years of business in Freyburg, the family moves again and finds a new place of activity in the historic estate Zscheiplitz. In only one and a half years, the renovation of the old horse stable (built in 1862) and the repeated construction of a new 400 sqm cellar created a unique ambience for wine tasting and farm sales. Since 2007 the old winegrowing tradition of the Zscheiplitz Monastery has been revived.