Kerner Justinus

The German poet and doctor Justinus Andreas Christian Kerner (1786-1862) studied medicine and natural sciences in Tübingen (Baden-Württemberg). From the year 1819 he practised as a doctor in Weinsberg. Among other things, he carried out scientific experiments on the influence of wine on the psyche, for example on the effects of Riesling on the nervous system in comparison with wines of other grape varieties. He had a very intimate relationship with the vines and with wine, which he also enjoyed with pleasure and abundantly. In prose and poetry he paid homage to the juice he loved and wrote numerous poems about wine, which were set to music and became folk songs - for example the well-known "Wanderlied" (Wohlauf noch getrunken den sparklnden Wein! Farewell now, dear ones, you must be divorced! Farewell now, you mountains, you fatherly house! It drives me mightily out into the distance). His circle of friends included the poets Ludwig Uhland, Eduard Mörike and Nikolaus Lenau. In his honour, the new variety Trollinger x Riesling created in the Weinsberg Viticulture Institute was named Kerner in 1968. By the way, his son Theobald Kerner (1817-1907) wrote the lyrics to the well-known wine song "Vom Kreislauf des Weines" (see quotations).