Rheinhessen: Red Slopes, Limestone Hills

Rheinhessen

Open the pages to Rheinhessen in almost any German wine book, and you’ll find mention of Liebfraumilch. I even hesitate to write the “L” word here except to make the point that in 2023, drawing attention to Rheinhessen’s Liebfraumilch past is a little like revisiting Austria’s 1985 wine scandal. These events are so far behind us that they’re practically irrelevant. Both are historically significant and essential catalysts for change, but Rheinhessen now leads in Germany’s wine quality sphere, and Austria is undoubtedly a world-class wine producer. Its recent history is far more interesting than the 1980s when simple and sweet blends based on Müller-Thurgau represented 50% of all German wine exports. It’s time to look at Rheinhessen from a fresh perspective. 

Thinking back to my earliest days of sommelier study, I remember Tim Gaiser MS stating, “Nackenheimer Rothenberg is one of the very best vineyards in all of Germany,” a strong statement since most of what I had studied up to that point was Mosel wine. Anyone reading this from outside the US must understand that we tend to be very Mosel-centric with German wine here in the States. One of my first “ah-ha!” moments with wine was a bottle of Maximin Grünhauser Riesling from the Ruwer, a tiny tributary of the Mosel. From then on, I decided I loved German wine and began reading about it. I was in my late 20s before joining the Court of Master Sommeliers program, so it took me about eight years to learn about Rothenberg. As I said, we tend to be very Mosel-centric in the US.

What’s wild about this is that Rheinhessen, with 27,312 hectares (2022), is Germany’s largest wine region. It’s also one of the most exciting and dynamic of Germany’s 13 Weinanbaugebiete, with several leading estates (including those whom many consider Germany’s top dry wine producers) Klaus-Peter-Keller, Wittmann, Battenfeld-Spanier, and Kühling-Gillot. What’s interesting from that grouping is that only Kühling-Gillot has vineyards anywhere near the Rothenberg on Rheinhessen’s Rheinfront, aka the Roter Hang (pictured above). The “red slope” near Nierstein is Rheinhessen’s classic quality area, a five-kilometer stretch of vineyards on steep slopes facing the Rhein.

Many references, even the excellent VDP.Weinbergonline mentions the soil Roter Schiefer (red slate), giving Roter Hang its name. I recently asked Johannes Hasselbach from Gunderloch, the Roter Hang’s and Rothenberg’s classic producer, and he clarified that it’s Rotliegend, a red-colored rock created in the Rotliegend period of the Earth’s history, formed from calcareous claystone, siltstones, and sandstones, red from finely distributed iron in the soil. The concept that it’s Schiefer (slate) is that it’s been compressed or “slated” over time, but the notion that it’s similar to the red slate of Ürziger Würzgarten, for example, is not quite the right idea.

Nevertheless, the Roter Hang is home to some of Rheinhessen’s most distinctive wines. Not only is there Nackenheimer Rothenberg, but its southern neighbor Pettenthal has to rank among Germany’s strongest terroirs along with Rheinhessen’s Morstein (which will get to later), Mosel’s Erdener Prälat, and Württemberg’s Lämmler. Then there’s Hipping and Ölberg, all of these classified as Grosse Lage in the eyes of the VDP. All of this is to say that of Rheinhessen’s 414 Einzellagen (single vineyards), these four sites on the Rheinfront are classics for a reason. Rheinhessen subdivides into three Bereiche (districts), and the Roter Hang constitutes just a tiny percentage of one of those districts: Nierstein. Incidentally, Germany’s oldest documented single vineyard is the walled Niersteiner Glöck. Move inland from the Rhein, and much of Nierstein sits on a plateau of rolling limestone hills.

The other two Bereiche are Bingen which covers the Rheinhessen’s northwest, near the Nahe, and Wonnegau in the south. Bingen’s Scharlachberg is a historically important, if sometimes underperforming, red-slate site. With holdings here, the VDP Nahe estate Kruger-Rumpf is undoubtedly one of Scharlachberg’s best producers. The Wonnegau is the southern Rheinhessen, with towns like Worms, Alzey, Westhofen, and Flörsheim-Dalsheim. It is the home of high-output tracts of plonk and some of Germany’s most outstanding wines today. Here we must again mention the name Klaus-Peter Keller and his holdings in Flörsheim-Dalsheimer Hubacker, Westhofener Kirchspiel, and Westhofener Morstein, the later an ancient vineyard with heavy clay marl and limestone producing Spätburgunder so pungent and distinctive that I’d have to place it in the same category as Richebourg in terms of Pinot Noirs with compelling and singular identities.

This post is one of my more extended introductions to a region, and I’ve only mentioned Riesling and Spätburgunder. I would be remiss not to say that Rheinhessen produces 71.7% white wine and 28.3% red wine, with Riesling accounting for 18.1% of the total vineyard area. Müller-Thurgau remains significant at 15.2%, followed by Dornfelder, Silvaner, Grauburgunder, and Spätburgunder. I will expand briefly on Silvaner as it was Rheinhessen’s dominant grape variety in the 19th century, and surprisingly there’s still more Silvaner planted in Rheinhessen than in Franken. It’s also here that Professor Scheu first developed Scheurebe and other crossings, which ate up Silvaner areas in the 20th century in favor of higher-yielding varieties. Thankfully, Silvaner remains an important Rheinhessen variety, and producers like Kai Schätzel and Weingut Thörle churn out superb quality from Silvaner grown in top vineyard sites.