Carolin Hoffranzen is Germany's best young winemaker 2017 and cultivates around ten hectares of vineyards with her family around the river Mosel. For the cultivation of their land, the family farm with more than 400 years' of tradition relies on Fendt tractors. In July the young winemaker visited the factory where her vineyard tractors are produced.
Carolin Hoffranzen is Germany's best young winemaker 2017 and cultivates around ten hectares of vineyards with her family around the river Mosel. For the cultivation of their land, the family farm with more than 400 years' of tradition relies on Fendt tractors. In July the young winemaker visited the factory where her vineyard tractors are produced.
"Visiting Fendt got me even more excited about the brand," says Carolin Hoffranzen. At the end of July, the young winemaker and her family visited the tractor factory at the Fendt headquarters in Marktoberdorf. After a film presentation, the winegrower family visited the various production areas of the plant. For the young winemaker a very special experience: "A factory tour gives you another, very different impression of tractors. Naturally, a tractor is just a working machine that is built and sold - but it is also a machine, made with a lot of hard work and passion."
(left to right) Heiko Knesebeck (Fendt Regional Sales Manager North/West ), Bernhard Brischwein (Plant Representative Fendt Tractors , West Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Rhineland ), Rudolf Hayer (Management Board Raiffeisen Waren-Zentrale Rhein-Main eG), Hans and Gertrud Hoffranzen (Vineyard Hoffranzen), Carolin Hoffranzen and Martin Schu-Hoffranzen (Vineyardt Hoffranzen), Susanne Witsch (Engineering Department, Raiffeisen Waren-Zentrale Rhein-Main eG) und Andreas Loewel (Managing Director AGCO Germany GmbH ).
She was fascinated by the interplay of the innovative technology and the manual labour within the production process, and how much "Made in Germany" is in every tractor. Besides the production processes, Carolin Hoffranzen was particularly impressed with the expertise and passion of the staff. "It felt like all Fendt staff I spoke to actually drive Fendt tractors, and always have a good tip and advice for you," the young winemaker laughed. "Their passion and the product gives confidence in the brand itself, and that's another reason why Fendt makes farmers and winemakers feel understood."
Gertrud, Hans and Carolin Hoffranzen (sitting) and Martin Schu-Hoffranzen (standing). (Photographer: Willy Speicher)
Some of the land belonging to the traditional vineyard Hoffranzen in Mehring on the Mosel.
The Hoffranzen family knows very well that the quality of Fendt tractors pays off. After all, the Fendt 260 that is still in use at the traditional Hoffranzen vineyard in Mehring is more than 20 years old. It is still used now for foliage cutting and tying. The family recently acquired another Fendt, a 100 hp Fendt 210 Vario, to make operations even more economical and efficient. This machine and its predecessor are used to cultivate a plantation for straight traction of about seven hectares. The remaining three hectares of the winery are located on steep slopes and must be manually farmed, just as it was the case in the farm's founding year in 1601.
Riesling is cultivated on about 95 percent of the vineyard. Carolin Hoffranzen's Riesling won the titles of Germany's best young winemaker 2017 and "Best young Riesling winemaker of the year 2017".
