Zechstein Manor

The former Zechstein winery with vineyards and forest property is located on Zitzschewig land in the Saxon city of Radebeul, at Barkengasse 17. The current two-story manor house was built in 1852 in place of a predecessor building already mentioned in 1706. The Zechstein vineyard located above belongs to the Radebeuler Johannisberg single vineyard site within the Radebeuler Lößnitz large vineyard area. The Zechstein is located in the Historic Vineyard Landscape Radebeul conservation area; monument protection already existed during GDR times.

The manor house of the Zechstein winery, whose current name has been attested since about the mid-19th century, is a stately, three-story building due to a high basement floor on the valley side, but on the mountain side, due to the slope, it is only two-story. The building has a width of seven window axes in the valley view and is three axes deep. The roof is a gently sloping hip roof without roof extensions. The building is simply plastered, the floors are structured by an intermediate cornice. In the valley view, there is also a wide balcony on pillars.

The two outbuildings on the right and left are two-story with half-hip roofs. The left one is restored like the main house, while the right one was still demolished down to the lowest floor in 2013.

The property is located directly across the street from Hohenhaus.

The winery already existed in the 17th century. In 1699, the documented succession of owners began with the Electorate of Saxony tax secretary Johann Michael Findekeller, who at that time also owned the Bischofspresse. In 1706, a vineyard building was described at the site of the current manor house. From 1795, it was owned by Imperial Count Friedrich Magnus zu Solms-Wildenfels (1743–1801), lord of the immediate imperial lordship of Wildenfels in the western Ore Mountains. The current outbuildings date from around 1800. The widow of the Imperial Count, who died in 1801, retained ownership until 1825.

The Raugraf August Josef Ludwig von Wackerbarth, who died in 1850, is said to have spent his last years at the Zechstein winery. In 1852, the current manor house was rebuilt by Heinrich Friedrich Laßius (Ferdinand Lasius), who had the current facade design created. In 1892, viticulture had to be stopped due to the phylloxera catastrophe. Further additions were made in 1910. In 1918, the property passed to Ernst Böhm, who farmed the approximately 6-hectare estate. In 1945, the owners were forcibly expropriated and expelled by the communists.

In 1946, the Paulsberg State Winery replanted the fallow vineyard areas. After VEG Weinbau Radebeul ceased cultivation in 1970, part-time winemakers took over viticulture. In 1973, the elderly owner Charlotte Böhm moved to West Germany, while the buildings increasingly fell into disrepair. These were managed by the Radebeul Building Management and, due to their poor structural condition, were vacated by 1988. Afterwards, the windows were bricked up and the roof remained leaky. In 1979, the owner died and left the property to her heirs in West Germany.

Since 2003, the listed property has been back in private hands and has since been renovated by its owner, a member of the Hessen-Philippsthal-Barchfeld family, who came to Radebeul for professional reasons. It is, among other things, the seat of Prinz von Hessen GmbH.

The Zechsteinweg, which runs below the estate, is the educational trail of Saxon viticulture, or Weinlehrpfad for short. Along the path, all grape varieties grown in the Upper Elbe Valley are presented with brief characteristics and their cultivation requirements. On June 15, 2008, the 1st International World Championship in Wine Cork Throwing took place there, organized, among others, by the winemaker of the winery in Meinholdschen Turmhaus, who leases the vineyard.

Above in the vineyard, on the path Am Zechstein, is the Zechstein-Aussicht, a traditional viewpoint over this part of the Lößnitz.