Château du Wineck, Castle ruin in Katzenthal, France
The Château de Wineck is a ruined castle in Katzenthal, France. It consists of a tall square keep and a lower curtain wall, set on a rocky mound surrounded by vineyards and village houses.
The castle began as a simple tower around 1200 and was first mentioned in 1251. After a fire in the 15th century, it was abandoned and fell into ruin, and restoration work started in 1972.
The name Wineck comes from the vineyards that surround the castle, and the nearby Wineck-Schlossberg hill produces a Grand Cru Riesling. Visitors can see the vineyard slopes that give the castle its name and character.
The site is open to visitors on weekend afternoons from spring to early winter, and access to the keep involves climbing stairs. The castle is lit up in the evening until 11 pm, making it a pleasant sight after dark.
The castle is the only one in Alsace to stand among vineyards, and the Wineck-Schlossberg Grand Cru takes its name from it. The wooden balcony on the keep's south side was originally a high entrance reached by a walkway. It has been closed to the public since 2024 because the timber had partly rotted, and a like-for-like restoration of the balcony and its protective canopy was scheduled to start in spring 2025.
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