currently 144,756 Wines and 22,894 Producers, including 2,432 classified producers.
The wine-growing region is located in the federal state of Hesse in Germany. The vineyards cover 3,211 hectares of vineyards starting at the Untermain east of Wiesbaden and extending about 50 kilometres along the right bank of the Rhine to Lorch north of Rüdesheim. The wine route "Rheingau Riesling Route" runs along the right bank from Lorch to Hochheim. Emperor Charlemagne (742-814) allegedly had the first vineyard planted near today's Johannisberg Castle. It is also said that the Spätlese was "invented" here, as evidenced by the story of the Spätlesereiter (Late Harvest Rider ). Especially in the...
Germany, or rather the area that is now part of it, has a wine culture that is over two thousand years old. But even before that, imported wine was drunk, as evidenced by a Greek clay wine bottle from around 400 BC found in a Celtic grave. The oldest vineyards were on the banks of the Rhine, Neckar and Moselle. These rivers with their long valleys, as well as their tributaries, are still the classic wine-growing areas today. Viticulture was founded by the colonisation of Gaul by the Greeks and then brought to perfection by Roman culture. The conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) brought Roman viticulture from the Rhône valley to the...