The northerly winemaking regions of Germany straddle the 50th parallel and are amongst the world’s coolest vineyards.
Nonetheless, vine cultivation dates to the ancient world—wild vines had been growing on the upper Rhine previously, but Vitis vinifera arrived in Germany with the Romans. Near the end of the 3rd century, Emperor Probus overturned Domitian’s 92 CE ban on new vineyard plantings, and viticulture followed the Romans into provinces north of the Alps. By the fourth century winemaking was definitively established along the steep slopes of the Mosel River. Charlemagne, the legendary beard-stained lover of wine—whose newly minted Carolingian calendar replaced the Roman October with Windume-Manoth, “the month of the vintage”—introduced vine cultivation east of the Rhine River in the late eighth century. During the Middle Ages, the Church was instrumental in shepherding the development of vineyards, and many of Germany’s modern einzellagen (vineyards) owe their nomenclature to monastic influence. As in France, the Church essentially operated its own feudal economy: it collected a tithe, or tax, from the parishioners who worked the vineyards, and wine made a suitable substitute for cash. The Cistercians of Burgundy founded the famous Kloster Eberbach monastery in the Rheingau in 1136, where they amassed the largest vineyard holdings in Europe by the end of the Middle Ages, with over 700 acres of vines. The walled Steinberg vineyard, an ortsteil within the commune of Hattenheim, was the monks’ centerpiece and remains wholly intact today—an alleinbesitz (monopole) of Kloster Eberbach for over eight centuries
The section on producers in the Rheingau includes the following text: ‘Schloss Schönborn and Langwerth von Simmern are principal growers based in Hattenheim: the Pfaffenberg vineyard is a monopole of Schloss Schönborn and the Mannberg vineyard is almost entirely owned by von Simmern.’ As noted in media reports such as this, Langwerth von Simmern is with us no more, alas. I don’t know who took over vineyard ownership, though a quick search indicated Dr. Corvers-Kauter has been bottling some.
The section on the Rheingau includes the following text: ‘Dry wines account for over half of the Rheingau Riesling production, and the VDP has listed more sites for Erste Lage in the Rheingau than any other anbaugebiet.’ The VDP site lists 59 Erste Lagen for the Rheingau and 79 Erste Lagen for the Pfalz. On the Grosse Lage side, the VDP site lists 78 for the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer but only 52 combined for Rheingau/Hessische Bergstrasse.
The section on VDP classifications includes the following text: ‘As in Burgundy, Orstwein may be produced from typical grape varieties sourced from multiple vineyard sites in a single village (i.e. Forst), whereas wines in the Gutswein category may be produced from grapes sourced from an estate’s holdings anywhere within a single anbaugebiet.’ First, a simple typo: ‘Orstwein’ should read ‘Ortswein’. Second, ‘i.e.’ would not be the correct term in Latin to refer to Forst as an example of a village, ‘e.g.’ would be (though it’s not clear to me why a straightforward use of ‘for example’ would not be preferred). Though perhaps just omit the example of Forst altogether? Not clear to me how including the example adds to the sentence . . .
The quotes below incorrectly use 'anbaugiete' (plural) where they should use 'anbaugebiet' (singular). I have included the incidences that would need to be replaced in italics (note one of the quotes does use anbaugiete as a plural noun correctly, which I have not put in italics).
'Each anbaugiete has its own minimum requirements for each authorized grape; thus, the minimum required for each prädikat level is expressed as a range (see the table below).'
'With the notable exception of Liebfraumilch, Qualitätswein and Prädikatswein are generally produced in one of Germany’s thirteen quality wine regions, or anbaugebiete, and must state the anbaugebiete on the label.'
'The Mosel River emerges from the Vosges Mountains in France and flows eastward into Germany, joining with its tributaries (the Saar and Ruwer) until it merges with the Rhine at Koblenz, marking the end of the Mosel Valley and the border of the Mittelrhein anbaugebiete'
The section on plantings in Germany includes the following text: ‘The red grapes are additionally used in some regions to produce Weissherbst, a saignée rosé wine made from a single variety and of at least QbA quality.’ As indicated in the paragraph that follows, the QbA term has been replaced with Qualitätswein.