The Jean Buscher Winery in Bechtheim celebrates the combination of art and wine

Jean and Jeanette welcome visitors on the terrace. The life-size ceramic figures were created by Klaus Schultze, a professor of ceramics and art from Lake Constance. "You can't escape art here," says Jean Michael Buscher dryly. For 33 years, they have been celebrating art in close symbiosis with wine here, so it's no wonder that the Jean Buscher Winery won the Great Wine Capital Tourism Award 2016 in the Art & Culture category.

A Walk of Art leads straight into the new wine lounge, as the Buschers call their wine bar. Rusted metal shelves line the semicircular wall of the wine lounge, displaying wine bottles alongside works of art. Round metal seals in the floor lead into the room, each displaying an emblem from one of the wine bottles on the rack next to it: wine labels made of wafer-thin, colorful metal.

One of the labels shows clowns, another "the kiss of the muse." One of the round works of art celebrates the fall of the Berlin Wall; this edition is called "L'Ouvertüre." "Look," says Buscher, opening a tiny cotton bag containing small pieces of masonry. "These pieces are from the Berlin Wall," he says proudly, "my brother-in-law personally chiseled them from the wall."

Over a period of 17 years, 17 artists from all over the world designed motifs for these special metal labels, and 900 bottles of the special wine were produced, filled with a dry Gewürztraminer Auslese, for example. When the metal labels became too expensive, the artists painted the bottoms of barrique barrels, and the unique pyramid now adorns the barrel cellar.

The Buscher winery in Bechtheim, a small village in southern Rheinhessen known for its excellent wines, has 16 hectares of vineyards. The soil here is loam, sprinkled with lime and sand. The perfect soil for Burgundy, says Buscher Junior, another Jean with the middle name Raphael. All male Buschers bear the name Jean, after the forefather who founded the winery in 1844, with the middle name serving to distinguish them. They make crystal-clear wines here, with a focus on finesse and diversity, and a special love for yellow Muscat.

The art thing began in 1984, on the winery's 140th anniversary. That year, the basilica in Bechtheim was renovated, and church painter Hermann Gottfried fell in love with Buscher wines. His sketches and drawings for church windows were the first works of art to be exhibited in Buscher's wine cellar. "We had no idea what we were doing," recalls senior Jean Michael with a smile, "but our visitors were thrilled."

The ancient wine cellar leads deep down into the ground, with large old oak barrels lined up along the walls, the oldest dating back to 1893 and holding 2,750 liters. "I'm sitting here in the deep cellar with a barrel full of grapes," Jean Michael sings – the old drinking song has been sung here before. Soccer idol Uwe Seeler sang wine songs on one legendary night, while on other nights trumpets, Thai songs, and Gregorian chants rang out – music is always part of the art exhibitions.

One year, the guests had to sing themselves – and none other than surprise guest Gotthilf Fischer conducted the choir. In 2009, the Buscher art cellar exhibited paintings by Udo Lindenberg, with a doppelganger contributing his songs, but the metal label comes from Udo himself – it adorns the "Panik Silvaner." Other artists at the annual exhibition came from the USA, Hawaii, Israel, Poland, and Scotland.

And they always left their mark in the form of works of art at the Buscher Winery: a minimalist cross made of wire and stone comes from the Benedictine exhibition, the "Weinrüssler" (wine sniffer) was left behind by artist Lisl Metten, and the eye-catcher in the new wine lounge is a large round metal picture of Audrey Hepburn. "With each exhibition, the inspiration to bring together the cultural assets of wine, painting, sculpture, and music grew," says Jean Michael: "We want people to be able to feel them—because it's all culture." They come together in the new wine lounge, the unique Walk of Art and Walk of Wine, in the middle of Rheinhessen, protected by Jean and Jeanette.