our adventure
When we came up with the name for our vineyard we knew two things – we wanted it to be cool, and we wanted to honor Jessica's ancestors, whom we knew to be winemakers in KS. I chose the name ‘Wendelin Vines’ because it did both. As a ‘marketing guy’ it sounded cool and it also honored Jessica’s family name. Whom at one point owned the largest vineyard in the state of Kansas. On the surface it was perfect. At the time, I’m not sure we realized how perfect.
What started as a cool name began to spark our curiosity…
The Hund family name has such a rich tradition, not only in Leavenworth, but across Kansas, into Texas, Tennessee, and New York. We set out to learn as much as we could about Wendelin Hund – the grapes he grew, the tools he used, why he would start a vineyard in Kansas??? Hours spent pouring through old newspaper articles, exploring the original wine cave, visiting historical societies, and hearing directly from descendants. In the weeks and months, we filled our brains with everything we could about Wendelin Hund and his vineyard in Kansas. We traced as much as we could back to Mauritz Hund (Wendelin’s father) who left Germany and came to America. But that wasn’t enough.
We wanted to dig even further, and this… led us to Germany.
Last week Jessica, Aaron (Jessica’s brother) and I spent 12 days visiting Germany. Amongst many stops, was a planned visit to the town of Waldulm – the origination point of Wendelin’s father – Mauritz Hund. Which we learned by researching Mauritz’s and discovering his baptismal certificate.
Jessica was able to connect with a distant cousin by the name of Markus Hund, a descendant of Maruitz’s brother Franz. Markus suggested we stop in Waldulm, where he would give us a tour of the village Mauritz departed for America. A place we thought would be a two hour stop on our journey.
The village, as we call it, can only be described as ‘fairy tale-esque.’ Two hours south of Frankfurt in a beautiful valley, not far from the Rhine River sat steep rolling foothills, lined with vineyards, at the edge of the black forest. Narrow, winding streets extending from a large church perched on a hill, overlooking the cottages below. It was overwhelmingly quaint, and Markus had clearly put effort in to our visit. Showcasing the original home Mauritz left from, winding through the streets, uphill to the church, and visiting the actual baptismal font where Mauritz was baptized years prior to his trip to the new world.
As Markus was giving us the tour of this beautiful village, he casually asked – ‘would you all like to see the Hund vineyard?”
Jessica, Aaron, and I all paused...
‘The Hund family own’s a vineyard here?” I asked, not really processing what he was saying...
‘Yes, we have for centuries”
We, or maybe I, had never put these pieces together…
As Mauritz left for the United States in 1832, Franz took over the family business – managing the vineyard and producing wine. Handed down from Franz, thru generations, now run by Markus and his brother Franc – the Hund family business - a family business very much alive today. As it turns out, the Hund family is still very much in the business of producing wine, in fact, some of the top Pinot Noir (known as spatburgunder) in Germany’s famous wine region of Baden.
Unbeknownst to us, it wasn’t just a cool name.
We spent the next two days, walking thru the Hund family vineyard, touching the vines, touring the winery, meeting family members and most importantly – sitting around the family table with Markus, his brother Franc, and their parents – Berta and Albert Hund, enjoying wine.
What was planned as a ‘ two hour’ stop turned into a two-day family reunion. The descendants of Mauritz from America, and Franz from Germany reconnecting… 200 years in the making, breaking bread and of course, enjoying a bottle of wine.
