Next dates
2027 dates not yet announced — typically around July. We're watching and will update this page when they land.
Quick answer
Hoffest am Stein is a ticketed wine festival on the Weingut am Stein hillside above Würzburg, running 9–26 July 2026 across 14 evenings (Wednesday–Sunday, closed Mondays and Tuesdays). General admission runs roughly €25 per evening. First held in 1986 as a small friends-and-neighbors party, it now books around 40 live acts and DJs across two stages each run.
- Best for
- Wine travelers who want a genuinely atmospheric hillside setting and don't mind paying for a curated evening — table packages sell out fast, so this suits planners more than walk-up visitors. A strong pick for anyone chasing the two Sunday electronic-music evenings specifically.
- Booking urgency
- High for table packages — six-person packages go on sale online each February and roughly half sell out within two days. General-admission tickets for individual evenings are easier to secure closer to the date but shouldn't be left to the last minute for headline nights.
Fourteen evenings of wine and live music on a vineyard hillside overlooking Würzburg, 9–26 July 2026 — ticketed, Wednesday through Sunday.
The Knoll family's winery hosts one of Franconia's most atmospheric wine festivals: a wooden terrace carved into the Stein vineyard, running 9–26 July 2026 across 14 evenings (Wed–Sun each week, closed Mondays and Tuesdays). Around 40 bands and DJs play across two stages, with headline live acts most evenings and a dedicated electronic-music program on the two Sundays. Doors open 16:30 on weekdays and 15:00 on weekends; concerts run roughly 20:00–23:00. Wines are Silvaner, Riesling, and Burgunder varieties from the estate's own organic, biodynamic vineyards, served alongside a full open-air kitchen menu. General admission runs roughly €25 per evening; table packages for six, including wine and food, are also sold and tend to sell out quickly after they go on sale each February. The event runs rain or shine, with no indoor fallback.
The full story
Every summer, the Weingut am Stein hillside above Würzburg turns into a 14-evening open-air concert series: around 40 bands and DJs across two stages, wine from the estate's own organic and biodynamic vineyards, and a view over the Main valley that regional press regularly calls the region's most atmospheric wine-festival setting. The 2026 run spans 9–26 July on a Wednesday-through-Sunday weekly pattern, with doors from 15:00–16:30 and sets running to around 23:00. General admission runs roughly €25 per evening; six-person table packages, including wine and food, sell out within days of going on sale each February.
The festival's own history is younger and more modest than its current scale suggests. In 1986, a young Ludwig Knoll and his wife Sandra threw a three-day gathering for friends and neighbors among the vines — one solo performer, a financial loss, and the first edition of what's now the Hoffest. A band joined the format the following year, and the run had stretched to twelve days by the early 1990s. Weingut am Stein itself, the winery hosting it all, wasn't built until 1980 — at the foot of the Würzburger Stein vineyard that gave it its name — and has been run by the Knoll family since 1990.
The Würzburger Stein vineyard's own history runs much deeper than the festival's, and it's a genuine point of local pride: Goethe repeatedly ordered wine from it, including a documented 1808 note for four bottles and a roughly 60-liter order for his 1820 stay in Karlsbad. But those orders went to the vineyard's larger historic producers of the time, not to Weingut am Stein, which didn't yet exist. A separate, unrelated winery beneath the Würzburg Residenz — the Staatlicher Hofkeller — does trace to 1128, which is likely where an older, since-corrected claim about this festival's age originated. See Hoffest am Stein or explore Lower Franconia.
History
In 1986, young winegrower Ludwig Knoll and his wife Sandra threw a three-day party for friends and neighbors among the vines — one solo entertainer, a loss on the books, and the first edition of what's now Weingut am Stein's annual wine festival. A band joined the following year; by the early 1990s the run had grown to twelve days. Weingut am Stein itself is younger than the name suggests: the winery building was constructed in 1980 at the foot of the Würzburger Stein vineyard, which is what gave the estate its name — the Knoll family has run it since 1990, certified organic since 2008 and biodynamic since 2013. Goethe genuinely drank wine from this hillside, but not from this winery: his documented orders — a handwritten 1808 note for four bottles, an 1820 order of roughly 60 liters for his stay in Karlsbad — were for Würzburger Steinwein from the vineyard's larger historic producers, decades before Weingut am Stein existed. Confusingly, an unrelated winery beneath the Würzburg Residenz, the Staatlicher Hofkeller, does trace to 1128 — but it has no connection to this festival or its host.
On Tap
- Local focus
- Knoll estate Silvaner and Riesling on a terrace carved into the Stein vineyard above the Main.
- What to try
- Silvaner by the glass as the sun sets over the Main valley — the Knoll family's signature pour at their Hoffest.
- Food pairing
- Simple wine-fest plates from the terrace kitchen; this is about the view and the glass in hand.
- Best for
- Romantic wine travelers on the Franken wine route who want atmosphere over tent volume.
- Bavaria On Tap take
- Germany's most atmospheric wine festival is a single terrace — book lodging early and arrive before golden hour.
Frequently asked questions
- When is Hoffest am Stein in 2026?
- 9–26 July 2026, Wednesday through Sunday each week (closed Mondays and Tuesdays) — 14 evenings total.
- Is Hoffest am Stein free to attend?
- No — general admission runs roughly €25 per evening. Table packages for six people, including wine and food, run roughly €215–625 and often sell out within days of going on sale each February.
- What is the history of Hoffest am Stein?
- The first edition ran in 1986, a small three-day party thrown by young winegrower Ludwig Knoll and his wife Sandra for friends and neighbors — it lost money. Weingut am Stein itself was built in 1980 at the foot of the Würzburger Stein vineyard, which gave the estate its name; the Knoll family has run it since 1990.
- Where is Hoffest am Stein located?
- Weingut am Stein, Mittlerer Steinbergweg 5, in Würzburg.
- Did Goethe really drink this winery's wine?
- Not from this winery specifically — Weingut am Stein wasn't built until 1980, 148 years after Goethe's death. Goethe did repeatedly order "Würzburger Steinwein" from the broader Würzburger Stein vineyard, produced in his day by the hillside's larger historic estates.
- Scenic setting