In this year, for reasons unknown, Heinrich was otherwise engaged and the cutting was delayed for three weeks, time enough for the Botrytis to take hold and produce the first thoroughly infected Spätlese.
A popular myth is that the practice originated independently in Germany in 1775, where the Riesling producers at Schloss Johannisberg (Geisenheim, in the Rheingau region) traditionally awaited the say-so of the estate owner, Heinrich von Bibra, Bishop of Fulda, before cutting their grapes.
Prince-Bishop, Prince Abbot Heinrich von Bibra’s nephew, Philipp Anton von Bibra (1751-1826 ) purchased it in 1808 from Prof. Antonin Zürchauer who himself purchase it a year earlier from František Dominik Janovský.
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Wilhelm was a member of the aristocratic Franconian von Bibra family which among its members were Wilhelm’s half brother, Lorenz von Bibra Prince-Bishop of Würzburg, Duke in Franconia, Conrad von Bibra, Prince-Bishop of Würzburg, Duke in Franconia (1490-1544), Heinrich von Bibra, Prince-Bishop, Prince-Abbot of Fulda (1711-1788) and Ernst von Bibra (1806-1878), naturalist and author.