Jakob Weidle
Jakob Weidle (born July 19, 1670 in Stammheim , Calw ; † December 3, 1740 in Gerlingen ) was a winemaker .
Jakob Weidle was a winemaker from Gerlingen . Born on July 19, 1670 in Stammheim (Calw) , he left his home in 1698, which was economically and socially on the ground due to the aftermath of the Thirty Years' War as well as repeated crop failures and epidemics in the late 17th century and dealt with viticulture and the search for new grape varieties.
Search for grape varieties
On February 22nd, 1698, he married Anna Queck, the daughter of the citizen and winemaker Caspar Queck, in Gerlingen near Stuttgart . It was through his father-in-law that he first came into contact with the vintner and winegrower, which was already traditional in Gerlingen at that time. Together with him, who like many winegrowers in the region at the time mainly cultivated Riesling and Trollinger , Jakob Weidle looked for ways to refine his wine by mixing it with other varieties or crossbreeding. So he experimented with the Klevener, a Traminer variety that is widespread in Baden , but which turned out to be too vulnerable for the growing area. It was feared that diseases of the vines could spread to the local Riesling and Trollinger.
Jakob Weidle made several trips to Baden and Alsace , from which he brought other grape varieties with him for their experiments. These included vines of the Pinot Gris, rediscovered in 1711 by the merchant Johann Seger Ruland , a mutation of Pinot Noir , which they cultivated on their vineyards and which was able to establish itself in the region. A folk legend has survived in Speyer to this day about the encounter between Jakob Weidle and Johann Seger Ruland .
The legend of the winemaker Weidle and his chiffchaff
The meeting between Jakob Weidle and the merchant Johann Seger Ruland is thematized in local traditions. The plot depicts Jakob Weidle as a gloomy, greedy and frightening person, who distinguished himself as a participant in the Turkish wars through particular atrocities and earned the nickname "Der Fuaderer" by killing a clergyman. He also makes a pact with the devil, who in return gives him a bewitched songbird, a chiffchaff , which from then on remains under the winemaker's beard until it is evoked. With the help of the chiffchaff and his magical abilities, Jakob Weidle succeeds in cheating the merchant Johann Seger Ruland and stealing his grapes in order to grow the unknown Pinot Gris in his home town of Gerlingen and to achieve considerable prosperity.
Court stamp
A depiction of the Weidle family's farm or house brand from the 19th century shows three crossed rooted willow leaves.
literature
- Hermann Dreher: Drehersche Orts-Chronik der Gemeinde Gerlingen, written 1899–1904
- City of Gerlingen and Association for Home Care e. V. (Ed.): Gerlingen - from the village to the city , Gerlingen 1983, ISBN 3-921097-99-1 .
- Johann Valentin Andreä: The destruction of Calw in the 30 Years War on September 10, 1634. , Calw 1939
- Gisela Graff-Höfgen: From Ruländer to Pinot Gris . Writings on wine history. No. 158. 2007.
- Fritz Klotz: The wine was sweet and lovely ... Johann Seger Ruland - a story about a vine . In: Die Rheinpfalz from August 4, 1982.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dreher's local chronicle of the municipality of Gerlingen, written 1899–1904, page 50, para. 1
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Weidle, Jakob |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Winemaker |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 19, 1670 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Stammheim (Calw) |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 3, 1740 |
| Place of death | Gerlingen |