Exceptional and moving

The Ketschauer Hof property is embedded in the extensive wine-growing area of the Palatinate wine route. In the Middle Ages it was given to noble ministries as tenure and in circa 1250 the lords of Engaß were in residence. Over the ensuing centuries it was occupied by the Schleder von Lachen family, the barons Sturmfeder von Oppenweiler and the barons of Ketschau.
Just before and during the Napoleonic era, the last owner was Count Damian Hugo von Lehrbach – a clerical dignitary. The Ketschauer Hof fell into the hands of the Swedish crown for a short time during the thirty-year war and was used as tenure by King Gustaf Adolf of Sweden for one of his military leaders from 1632 to 1633. The manor house was rebuilt by the Kurpfalz court architect Franz Rabaliatti from 1770 to 1772. The opening ceremony in October 1772 played host to Kurfürst Karl Theodor von der Pfalz and his wife, as well as the Prince Bishop of Speyer. In 1783 Johann Peter Jordan built a stately home with wine cellars opposite the Ketschauer Hof. His father immigrated to the Palatinate from Cluses in Savoy in 1708 and was recorded as a vineyard owner in 1718. Johann Peter Jordan acquired the plot of land from the church by way of exchange. The area is now in the centre of the prestigious winery Geheimer Rat Dr. von Bassermann-Jordan. After being a family property for a long time, the Neustadt entrepreneur Achim Niederberger bought the property in 2002. It was sympathetically converted and in 2006 the gourmet restaurant Freundstück and the wine bistro Bassermännchen were opened. Since 2009 the ensemble has been complemented by a luxurious boutique hotel.