Rheingau

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Accessory grape varieties

Terroir

• The subsoil of the Upper and Middle Rheingau consists of sandy and clayey marine and brackish unconsolidated sediments of Tertiary age, with clays outcropping on west-facing valley slopes.
• The foothill zone in front of the main Taunus ridge consists of phyllite and phyllitic clay shales of the Lower Devonian, while quartzites, quartzitic sandstones, phyllites, and clay shales are widespread in the Lower Rheingau.
• The Rhine and Main terrace plains account for the largest share of the appellation's area by surface and are covered by thick deposits of loess and loess loam.
• The Rheingau lies in the rain shadow of the forested heights of the Rheingaugebirge — a part of the Hohen Taunus oriented from southwest to northeast — where the woodlands slow the drainage of cold nocturnal air into the vineyards below.
• In the villages close to the Rhine, gardens support Mediterranean woody plants such as fig trees, olives, apricots, and peaches, while on the steep Rhine-facing slopes a vegetation adapted to drought conditions prevails.
• Climate data averaged over the 30-year period from 1971 to 2000 show a mean annual temperature of 10.6 °C, average annual rainfall of 582 mm, and approximately 1,603 sunshine hours per year.

• The Rheingau is characterised by numerous direct-marketing wine estates, mostly family-run operations, while producers who do not market their own wines are organised in cooperative wineries.
• Some of the most renowned Rheingau estates are organised within the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP), whose Rheingau regional association is the largest by membership within VDP Deutschland.

• The beneficial influence of the Rhine Rift Valley brings about an early onset of vegetation, and the predominantly south- to southwest-facing hillside and steep-slope sites amplify heat accumulation, while the large diurnal temperature variation extends the ripening period and exerts a positive effect on the development of aromatic compounds in the grapes.

Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the source.

All appellations in Germany

Sources

• eAmbrosia register (EU) — File number PDO-DE-A1273
• Official trade body site — Rheingauer Weinbauverband e.V.