Next dates
2027 dates not yet announced — typically around May. We're watching and will update this page when they land.
Quick answer
Nordheim Wine Festival is a wine festival in Nordheim am Main, Bavaria. It runs from May 13–17, 2026. 63rd Kastanienallee opener of the Mainschleife outdoor wine season — free entry, Franconian Schoppen, and Vatertag vibes.
63rd Nordheim Weinfest under the chestnut alley — free-entry Mainschleife season opener with local Franconian growers.
The 63rd Weinfest Nordheim fills the Kastanienallee from 13–17 May 2026, traditionally kicking off Mainschleife open-air wine season at Christi Himmelfahrt ("Vatertagsweinfest"). Local growers, InselWeinMacher, and DIVINO pour Franconian wines beneath the chestnut trees, with Franconian food, live music (DJ night on opening Wednesday through Sunday country/Blasmusik slots), family afternoon pricing on Friday, and guided winery walkabouts with the Nordheimer Weinprinzessin (advance signup, max 25). Published Festbetrieb windows include Wed 18:00–00:30 through Sun 11:00–22:00 (Ausschank earlier). Free entry; reserve tables online via Krzenck.
The full story
Weinfest Nordheim turns the historic Kastanienallee — a chestnut-lined avenue in Nordheim am Main, a Mainschleife wine village in the Kitzingen district of Lower Franconia — into a free, five-day open-air wine festival each May. The 2026 edition runs Wednesday 13 through Sunday 17 May, its run built around Christi Himmelfahrt (Ascension Day), which gives the festival its popular nickname, the "Vatertagsweinfest." Six pouring parties work the chestnut avenue: four family estates from Nordheim itself, the InselWeinMacher growers' association, and the DIVINO cooperative — pouring alongside a program that opens with a Wednesday-evening DJ set, builds through a Thursday keyed to the Weinprinzessin's arrival, eases into a Friday family afternoon with discounted rides, picks back up with a Saturday festival rally and party band, and closes Sunday with a church service and brass-band brunch. Admission is free across all five days; visitors pay only for wine, food, and rides.
2026 marks the festival's 63rd edition, but that number tells a more complicated story than a simple 63-year countdown. The festival, then billed as the 60th anniversary edition, was cancelled outright in both 2020 and 2021 because of COVID-19 restrictions — and when it finally returned, the "60th" label ended up attached to both the 2022 restart and the 2023 edition before the count settled into its current, uncontested run (61st in 2024, 62nd in 2025, 63rd in 2026). Nordheim am Main's own status as Franconia's largest wine-growing municipality by area, with a winegrowing tradition documented back more than 1,100 years, belongs to the town, not to this particular festival.
Visitors should also keep the town itself straight: this is Nordheim am Main, not the unrelated town of Nordheim in Kreis Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg, which runs its own, separately organized "Weinfest" every April — a genuine same-name collision between two different wine towns. A shuttle bus links twelve Mainschleife villages during the festival, making Weinfest Nordheim an easy anchor for a wider day trip through the wine region, ideally timed ahead of the area's later-season wine festivals as the year's open-air wine season gets underway. See Weinfest Nordheim page or explore Lower Franconia.
History
Weinfest Nordheim reaches its 63rd edition in 2026, but that count isn't an unbroken 63-year run: the festival, then billed as the 60th/jubilee edition, was cancelled outright in both 2020 and 2021 for COVID-19, and the '60th' label ended up attached to both the eventual 2022 restart and the 2023 edition before the numbering settled. Nordheim am Main's own 1,100-plus-year winegrowing history is the town's age, not the festival's. A different, unrelated Nordheim in Kreis Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg, runs its own separately organized 'Weinfest' each April, and Northeim in Lower Saxony (different spelling) is a softer, phonetic mix-up — this is Nordheim am Main's own Mainschleife wine festival, distinct from both.
On Tap
- Local focus
- The 63rd Kastanienallee opener of the Mainschleife outdoor wine season, with free entry and Franconian Schoppen.
- What to try
- Order a Schoppen — Franconia's standard wine pour — and settle in under the Kastanienallee.
- Best for
- Wine travelers marking the start of the Mainschleife's outdoor wine season, especially around Vatertag.
- Bavaria On Tap take
- Free entry and a 63rd edition make this chestnut-avenue opener a reliable way to kick off the Mainschleife wine season — just don't mistake the edition count for an unbroken 63-year run.
Practical tips
The English-language details German fest pages usually skip.
- Reservations
- Online table reservations are on the Krzenck reservation page.
- Kids / family
- Fri 15 May Kinder- und Familiennachmittag with reduced ride prices and wine/beer specials; Sun kids' program & Bummelpass activity.
Frequently asked questions
- When is Weinfest Nordheim in 2026?
- 13–17 May 2026 in the Kastanienallee, Nordheim am Main (Lkr. Kitzingen). Often called the Vatertagsweinfest because Ascension Thursday falls inside the run.
- Is entry free?
- Yes. Admission is free on all days; wine and food are paid for at the stands.
- Who is pouring?
- Four local Nordheim estates plus the InselWeinMacher winegrowers' association and the DIVINO cooperative, staged by the Krzenck & Straetemans showman operation.
- Can I reserve a table?
- Yes — online table reservations are on the Krzenck reservation page.
- Is this the same as the Weinfest in Nordheim, Baden-Württemberg?
- No. This is Weinfest Nordheim in Nordheim am Main, Lower Franconia's Mainschleife wine region. A different, unrelated town also called Nordheim, in Kreis Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg, runs its own separately organized 'Weinfest' each April — different region, different organizer, no connection to this event.
- Family-friendly
- Free entry
- Reservation recommended
- Scenic setting