Blog Best of Mainz
City tours for connoisseurs
Stefanie Jung hadn't expected this: in the lively city and Great Wine Capital of Mainz, there were only a few city tours for connoisseurs! So in 2016, the Mainz-based author began taking guests on tours of wine and culinary hotspots in her hometown. "1st Mainz Wine Walk" is the original title for her enjoyable city tour concept – which continues to be a success to this day!
For three hours, the experienced journalist accompanies visitors to three different stops in the wine town on the Rhine. Off the beaten track, the tour takes you on foot to a traditional wine house, a wine shop, and a "cool" wine bar with a modern style. The locations change constantly—Mainz's culinary scene is lively and constantly evolving. At each stop, there are three wines and delicious snacks to go with them – the respective hosts describe the wines in detail. On her city tour, Stefanie Jung tells entertaining stories about the present and past of Mainz as a wine town. The "1st Mainz Wine Walk" ends at the last stop – but the enthusiastic guests often stay seated together because the company is so pleasant.
There is a maximum of 15 participants, ensuring that the groups remain manageable and personal. The idea has developed into a business model: alongside Stefanie Jung, a team of expert Best of Mainz guides takes care of the city tours.
The combination of wine tasting, culinary experiences, tips for special wine locations, individual attention, and cultural enrichment is very well received by guests. Wine tourists from outside the city feel right at home with "Best of Mainz | City Tours & More" – tours are also available in English and Spanish.
But surprisingly, the strongest customer group comes from the city itself and the surrounding Rhine-Hesse region: "The locals are rediscovering their city, visiting wine establishments with us that they have never been to before," reports Stefanie Jung. The author of a dozen books knows very well how to make people happy. "Places of Happiness in Mainz," "111 Places," and "Mainz.
"The Home Quiz" are just a few of the titles that deal with the positive discovery of one's homeland. During the coronavirus pandemic, the company got by with a pop-up store in Mainz's old town and virtual wine walks through Mainz—now guided tours are taking place again every week, centrally offered via the company's own website. "History instead of numbers" is the motto with which Stefanie Jung inspires wine tourists to visit Mainz with relaxed tours such as "From the Romans to Chagall to wine."
Inspired by her win of the "Best of Wine Tourism Award," the creative mind has added the "Mainz Great Wine Capitals Walk" to the program. She walks with guests through Mainz in the footsteps of the Great Wine Capitals to locations that offer international wines from the GWC regions.
At the market, the group enjoys wines from Veneto and Verona, at the Cape House wines and products from South Africa, and the culinary finale takes place at the creative cooking workshop Tischdecker, where Der Weinschmitt is the guest with a Great Wine Capital wine package. Hans Peter Schmitt offers wines from all ten Great Wine Capitals, and Stefanie Jung can tell stories about them: from A for Adelaide, Australia, to V for Valparaíso, Chile, and Verona, Italy.
The "Best of Mainz" team has truly earned the Great Wine Capitals Best of Wine Tourism Award 2022 in the "Wine Tourism Service" category with its engaging wine tours through the city of Mainz.




