Heinrich Birk (1898 – 1973) was a German

viticulturist Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...

. He was head of the

Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute The Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute was founded in 1872 and is located in the town of Geisenheim, in Germany's Rheingau region. In 1876 Swiss-born professor Hermann Müller joined the institute, where he developed his namesake grape variety ...

. Heinrich Birk studied philosophy at the

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von L ...

after his initial graduation 1920–1923 in agronomy at the

university of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

and after 1924 in addition to an initial position on the domain

Steinberg, Kloster Eberbach Steinberg is a wall-enclosed vineyard (a ''Clos'', using French terminology) near Hattenheim in the Rheingau.Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

1930 At this time he was already two years as clerk at the Geisenheim Research Center at the Institute of vines finishing as an assistant to Professor F. Muth. 1939 he became head of the ''Reichs-Rebenzuchtstation'' (Reichs-vine breeding station). He had to quit a year later because of his compulsory military service. 1945 Birk returned and devoted himself in postwar reconstruction. Heinrich Birk gained reputation for the cultivation of some new grape varieties by cloning

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 ...

and crossing with other varieties. Birks idea was to create an early

ripening Ripening is a process in fruits that causes them to become more palatable. In general, fruit becomes sweeter, less green, and softer as it ripens. Even though the acidity of fruit increases as it ripens, the higher acidity level does not make the ...

wine compared to the traditional Riesling. So he directed experimental plots emerged with Arnsburger,

Breidecker Breidecker is white variety of grape. It is a hybrid grape, an interspecific crossing (Riesling × Silvaner) × Seibel 7053. It can be used to make a German style light white wine with apple and pear flavors. "This cultivar was released by the ...

, Ehrenfelser, Hibernal, Osteiner,

Reichensteiner Reichensteiner is a white wine grape that is mainly grown in Germany ( ''(2008 fig.)''), England ( ''(2010 fig.)''),Schönburger Schönburger, also spelled Schoenburger, or Schonburger is a variety of grape, formally designated Geisenheim 15–114, a crossing developed at Geisenheim Institute for Grape Breeding in Germany, and released in 1979, of Pinot noir x (Chasselas ...

and Witberger. Some of the grape varieties bred by Heinrich Birk at the Research Institute Geisenheim :

Arnsburger Arnsburger is a white variety of grape used for wine. It was created 1939 by Heinrich Birk (1898-1973) at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute by crossing two clones of Riesling, clone 88 and clone 64.

Ehrenfelser Ehrenfelser is a white wine grape variety of German origin. It was created by Dr. Heinrich Birk (1898-1973) at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in 1929, by crossing Riesling with what was thought at the time to be Silvaner, but DNA marker ...

Gutenborner Gutenborner is a white German wine grape that is also used in English wine production. J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Wine Course'' Third Edition pg 112 Abbeville Press 2003 The grape was created in 1928 by Heinrich Birk at Forschungsanstalt ...

and

Rotberger Rotberger is a wine grape variety. Its parentage is not known with certainty but it is thought to be from a cross of Trollinger and Riesling grapes. Dr. Heinrich Birk (1898-1973) produced the cross at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in 19 ...

References

Further reading