Rheinhessen (wine region)

[1][2][3] Named for the traditional region of Rhenish Hesse, it lies on the left bank of the Rhine between Worms and Bingen in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

There have been several unsuccessful attempts to legally reunite the former wine growing districts of Mainz on the Hessian side during the post-war area.

The Rhine forms the eastern and northern boundary of the region, with the river Nahe to the west and the Haardt Mountains to the south.

Mainz is documented to be a wine-growing region since bishop Boniface acquired a vineyard bordering the city wall and further vine plantations in Bretzenheim [de; fr; pl] for the Abbey of Fulda in 752 [6] When the owners of Stadecken-Elsheim the Counts of Katzenelnbogen first cultivated Riesling in 1435 they called the wine from this part of their county the Wine from the Gau.

Müller-Thurgau (usually labelled Rivaner when vinified dry), the prime ingredient in Liebfraumilch, is no longer the most grown with 15.6% of the area, has decreased significantly.

[9] Due to the competitive qualities at the yearly Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP) wine market held in Mainz, not all requests for the 2006 harvest could be granted.

The Roter Hang (red slope) in the north of this area lies on a sandstone that is reputed to give the best wines, to the south the soils become deeper.