|
|
The wine region Hessian Bergstrasse
The Hessian Bergstrasse is the smallest of the German wine areas. The 450 hectare area between Darmstadt and Heppenheim wasn’t cultivated until 1971 after the vintners of Baden insisted on the Bergstrasse vineyards being incorporated into the wine area Baden. The Rhinegau didn’t want to join the Hessian Bergstrasse seeing as the wines really are very different. The wine area was formed as an individual area and doesn’t have to operate under the name of “Rhinegau" or "Rhinehesse“; the Bergstrasse vintners have become independent.
|
|
The wine trail up to the Kirchberghäuschen
|
|
Two seperate areas characterise this small German wine growing region: There are individual vineyards to the south of Darmstadt in Seeheim and Alsbach. Further south the vineyards become one. The vines around Zwingenberg have ideal climatic conditions due to the protection of the Melibokus, the highest elevation on the Bergstrasse. Further areas focusing on winegrowing are Auerbach-Bensheim and Heppenheim as well as the subsidiary valleys of the Odenwald. This area runs out to the south of Heppenheim in "Starkenburg", on the border of the Hessian and Baden regions, just before the wine town of Laudenbach.
|
|
During the vintage
|
|
The region which lies to the east of the Rhine between Heidelberg and Darmstadt has always been pampered by the sun. Protected from the cold easterly wind by the Odenwald, the spring awakes a little earlier on the Bergstrasse, while other areas of Germany are still hibernating. In Bensheim and surroundings, you can experience the spring blooms in March already (Almond, fig, apricot, peach, cherry).
It is therefore not surprising that the most demanding of white vines, the slow ripening Riesling takes up more than half of the winegrowing area on the Bergstrasse.
|
|
Wine tavern "Blauer Aff"
|
|
There are no sales problems for the vintners of the Hessian Bergstrasse. The prized achievements of the top firms, Weingut der Stadt Bensheim and the state owned winery, but also the Bergsträßer Winzer eG (committee of local vintners) contribute to the reputation of this winegrowing area.
Most of the vineyards on the Bergstrasse are worked on by “leisure time vintners“ and a large portion of the harvest remains in the region, that means it is consumed by the people who visit the area or those who are at home here. The Hessian Bergstrasse is a very popular destination with guests from far and wide, especially the residents of the Rhine-Main area.
The 50 hectare area to the north-east, around Gross-Umstadt in the district of Darmstadt-Dieburg is less well known. The “Odenwald wine island” also belongs to the winegrowing area.
Further information all about the wine of the Hessian Bergstrasse can be found here www.bergstraesser-wein.de or www.weingilde-bergstrasse.de.
|
|
|
|
