The Hessische Bergstraße ("Hessian Mountain Road") is a defined region (''Anbaugebiet'') for wine in Germany located in the state of

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...

among the northern and western slopes of the Odenwald mountain chain. With only of

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineya ...

s it is the smallest of the 13 German quality wine regions. At 21% red grape varieties and 79% white varieties, it is planted with primarily

Riesling Riesling (, ; ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling wh ...

(40% as of 2019),

Pinot gris Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio (, ) or Grauburgunder is a white wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir variety, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name, but the gra ...

(12%) and

Spätburgunder Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French words for ''pine'' and ''black.'' The word ''pine ...

(Pinot Noir, 11%).German Wine Institute, German Wine Statistics 2019–2020
(PDF-file; 700 kB) Hessische Bergstraße is divided into two districts (''Bereiche'') – Umstadt and Starkenburg – three collective vineyard sites and 24 individual vineyard sites. The region produces mostly dry wines (14,000 hl in 2019), some off-dry (5,000 hl in 2019) but does have a sizable production of

Eiswein Ice wine (or icewine; german: Eiswein) is a type of dessert wine produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. The sugars and other dissolved solids do not freeze, but the water does, allowing for a more concentrated grape ...

. The wines from the best producers are in a style similar to that of Rheingau.J. Robinson (ed) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition pg 345 Oxford University Press 2006 The majority of the region's wine is produced by a winemaking cooperative based in the city of

Heppenheim Heppenheim (Bergstraße) is the seat of Bergstraße district in Hesse, Germany, lying on the Bergstraße on the edge of the Odenwald. It is best known for being the birthplace of 4-time Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel. Geography ...

, to which about 620 of 850 growers of the region deliver their grapes. The

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

government of Hesse, through the Hessian State Wineries (''Hessische Staatsweingüter'') is the biggest single vineyard owner with since 2008 processed in the central cellar of the state wineries at the

Steinberg, Kloster Eberbach Steinberg is a wall-enclosed vineyard (a ''Clos'', using French terminology) near Hattenheim in the Rheingau.Der Steinbergkeller
, accessed on December 29, 20109 Because of the small production and a location rather close to densely populated areas, most of the wines is sold locally, and it is very uncommon to see Bergstraße wines outside of Germany.

History

When the Counts of Katzenelnbogen first cultivated

in 1435 the first time they already documented wine from the Bergstraße. This northern Bergstraße was their property: When they died out in 1479 this part of the county came to the Landgraves of Hesse. The Hessische Bergstrasse has existed as an independent winegrowing region only since 1971. Before that, it formed the Bergstrasse winegrowing region together with the Badische Bergstrasse. At that time, a new wine law made restructuring measures in Baden necessary. Baden claimed the part of the Bergstrasse that lies within its state borders. This concerns the area south of Heppenheim. The northern part of the Bergstrasse, the Hessian Bergstrasse, was originally to be added to the Rheingau. However, since this did not seem to make sense either geographically or administratively, the smallest wine-growing region in Germany at that time was created. The Romans probably began winegrowing on the Strata montana (Bergstrasse) about 2,000 years ago. Documentarily, viticulture is mentioned for the first time in the 8th century in the

Lorsch Codex The Lorsch Codex (Chronicon Laureshamense, Lorscher Codex, Codex Laureshamensis) is an important historical document created between about 1175 to 1195 AD in the Monastery of Saint Nazarius in Lorsch, Germany. The codex is handwritten in Carol ...

(Codex Laureshamensis).

Grape varieties

The most cultivated grape varieties by area in 2018 are detailed in the following document:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hessische Bergstrasse Geography of Hesse Wine regions of Germany