Ahr (wine-growing region)

Data
Wine region :	Ahr
Country :	Rhineland-Palatinate
Viticulture since:	at least 8th century
Surface:	545 hectares (2012)
Wine production:	30,232 hectoliters (2012)
German wine-growing regions.

The Ahr is in the wine-growing region Ahr by § 3 para. 1 no. 1 wine law grown , which takes its name from the eponymous river has. It is the largest closed wine-growing region for red wine in Germany . On a total of 548 hectares of vineyards (2006), 87.5% red wine and 12.5% white wine are grown. The proportion of dry wines reached a proportion of 50.9% in 2005, while the proportion of semi-dry wines was 30.9%.

The table wine of the Ahr is marketed under the name Rhein-Mosel (Rhine area) according to § 1 Wine Ordinance and country wine as Ahrtaler country wine according to § 2 WeinVO .

history

Even the Romans , who reached the area of ​​the Ahr valley before the birth of Christ , are said to have grown wine there, but this has not been proven. The history of viticulture in the Ahr valley can be traced back to the 8th century. According to a deed of donation from the year 755 AD, a certain Odilbert transferred a ' Wingert of some rods' near Remagen to the Stablo monastery in today's Belgium. In 770 AD, a wealthy Wigbert in Ripuariergau gave the Lorsch monastery, among other things, Wingerte in Remagen and in the district of Pissenheim (today Werthoven, municipality of Wachtberg ), in Eckendorf (municipality of Grafschaft) and south of Fritzdorf and 'ad Ara '("on the Ahr"). Even if there is no historical evidence, it is likely that the Merovingians in the 5th to 8th centuries AD continued the presumed Roman viticulture on a smaller scale and with simple means.

In the year 893 the Prümer Urbar names larger vineyards in eight Ahr settlements. In this list of goods, the Prüm Abbey recorded a number of goods subject to wine tax, including in Ahrweiler , Walporzheim , Dernau and Altenahr . In addition to the Prüm Abbey , eleven other monasteries and twelve noble houses in the municipality of Ahrweiler had 80% of the vineyard area around the year 1200. In Dernau 19 landlords, ten monasteries and nine secular lords owned around 80% of the vineyards.

The community of Dernau on the red wine hiking trail .

Ahrweiler came to the Archbishopric of Cologne with the county of Are in 1246 . In the 15th century the community had to deliver 30 loads of wine a year to its sovereign, the Elector of Cologne . In a document from 1417 it is described how all the wine barrels in the community were legally sealed until the rentmaster of the Elector of Cologne came and chose (or selected ) the 30 fuders that he liked ; hence the term “Kurwein”.

Red grape varieties were only grown after the Thirty Years' War . The Burgundy of that time was processed like a white wine . It was pale pink and was sometimes called Ahrbleichert .

In 1794 French troops moved into the area and occupied it as the so-called Left Bank of the Rhine until 1813/1814. In the course of secularization , the properties of the church, the monasteries and the cathedral monasteries were dissolved. Cheaper and more alcoholic wines were brought onto the German market from all over the French Empire. So it was not easy for the Ahr winemakers to sell their goods.

After the Congress of Vienna , the Ahr area was united with the Prussian Kingdom. In the following 20 years, viticulture experienced a small boom due to the quiet political situation and the customs protection system. The previously popular imports from France became too expensive due to the protective tariffs, and the domestic market in the red wine sector was consequently supplied by Ahrwein.

This changed in 1833 when Prussia joined the German Customs Union . In addition to internal sales problems, trade with neighboring Belgium also collapsed. A few bad harvests also weakened the winemakers' economic strength. The winegrowers were particularly affected around 1860. Up to four vintages were unsold in the cellar. In addition, due to insufficient care, the wines had become unsaleable. Trade was practically idle, and many families emigrated to America because their own land could no longer support them.

In times of need, the winegrowers resorted to self-help and, following Raiffeisen's idea, 18 winegrowers founded the Mayschoss-Altenahr winegrowers 'cooperative, one of the world's first winegrowers' cooperatives, in Mayschoss . Just three years later you could hire a salesman. By 1898 a total of 20 winegrowers' cooperatives had been founded in the Ahr Valley.

In 1913, tens of thousands of bottles of red wine were sent to the German protection forces in Africa in red wine trains .

Viticulture on the Ahr was revitalized in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by the following organizations:

1. The wine cooperatives. Today 90% of the winegrowers are organized in 12 winegrowers' cooperatives on the Ahr. This proportion is exceptionally high compared to other German wine-growing regions.
2. The state teaching and research institute for viticulture, horticulture and agriculture in Ahrweiler, which was founded in 1902 as a provincial wine and fruit growing school.
3. The Marienthal domain , which was owned by the state until 2004 , was once an Augustinian convent with large vineyards, is now a model business and is closely linked to the state teaching and research institute.

From the end of the 1960s onwards, the land consolidation project resolved a smoldering problem in German viticulture: the topography of the site allowed viticulture to be done exclusively by hand and endangered the profitability of the wineries. Added to this was the fragmentation of the property. In 1957, a total of 162 parcels with an average size of only 160 m² were determined for the municipality of Dernau in the “Im Hardtberg” district on 2.6 hectares.

The strong breakdown also shows a short summary of the business survey from 1958:

Size of the holding in hectares	Number of establishments in 1958
up to 0.2 hectares	569
0.2-0.5 hectares	679
0.5-1 hectare	276
1 hectare and more	76
TOTAL	1600

In 2011, around 80% of the winegrowers on the Ahr worked as additional or part-time jobs and the majority of them were grouped together in wine cooperatives. Only 65 companies produce wine as their main occupation.

Geography and climate

Course of the Ahr

Red grapes of the Blauer Burgunder variety

The Ahr Valley is located in the north of Rhineland-Palatinate along the Ahr between Altenahr and Heimersheim . In the north it borders directly on North Rhine-Westphalia . Because it extends mainly from west / southwest to east / northeast, the left side of the river in particular receives many hours of sunshine. The climatic conditions in the area are actually no longer suitable for growing wine. It is therefore micro-climatic aspects that still make viticulture possible:

1. The mouth of the Ahr is at a low 54  m above sea level. NN , in addition, the valley benefits from the warming effect of the Rhine in the mouth area . The climatic advantage of this depth disappears very quickly due to the steep slope of the Ahr. Ahrweiler is 12 km above the mouth of the Ahr, already 100 m high, and Altenahr is 150 m above sea level.
2. The wine-growing region lies in the rain shadow of the Eifel and the High Fens . The amount of precipitation is comparatively low at 560 mm per year and results in a higher proportion of hours of sunshine.
3. Because of its location on the southern edge of the Cologne Bay , the Gulf Stream also softens the climate of the wine-growing region.
4. The orography of the Ahr valley is determined by the meanders of the Ahr that cut deep into the Lower Devonian basement . Together with the specific properties of the rocks in the vicinity, it influences viticulture: small-scale climatic spaces are formed between the river bends and rocks, which are shielded from the wind and where the sun warms the ground and air. When guilty, the Ahr leaves the frame of the Eifel main saddle made of rocks from Obersiegen and runs from there on rocks from Mitteliegingen to its mouth near Remagen . Obersiegen and Mitteliegen are units of the Lower Devonian Siegen level, which are no longer available due to international conventions, but are still used in many maps and descriptions of the Ahr Valley. The middle of the Ahr valley with its rocks made of greywacke, slate, sandstone, siltstone and claystone is also known as the "Rauhflaser". According to the current division of the Lower Devonian, it lies in the border area of Pragium / Emsium . Since from Kreuzberg on the way to the confluence between the Ahr and the Eifeler-Hauptsattel the special folding of the Ahrtal-saddle is switched on, the rock layers are very steep to partly completely vertical ( saiger ). The meanders of the Ahr show no dependence on the position and physical properties of the rock layers. It is therefore assumed that the meanders were already created when the corresponding floe was still sloping to the east with a very weak relief and very slight gradient.
5. In the lower Ahr valley from Ahrweiler to the Rhine plain, the Ahr was able to cut itself easily and broadly into six terraces. The lower terrace of the valley floor is up to 1 km wide. The upper and middle terraces were covered with fertile loess , and the sand and gravel layers of the lower terrace were also transformed into fertile soil by thick layers of deposits up to 10 m thick, which still contains a lot of alluvial loess.

The steep, rocky south-facing slopes heat up quickly when exposed to sunlight and only gradually pass on the stored heat to the vines , so that even temperatures are guaranteed even at night. The area is assigned to wine-growing zone A within the EU .

The long-term annual mean of 9.8 ° C can therefore be compared with the average values ​​of other German wine-growing regions. The winter mean from December to February is very mild at 2.4 ° C for our latitudes. In spring, however, there is always an acute risk of frost.

Average temp.	Nov	Dec	Jan.	Feb	March	Apr	May	Jun.	Jul.	Aug	Sep	Oct	year
2002/2003	8.2 ° C	3.9 ° C	2.0 ° C	0.3 ° C	7.9 ° C	10.0 ° C	14.8 ° C	20.8 ° C	20.5 ° C	21.2 ° C	14.4 ° C	7.4 ° C	11.0 ° C
many years	5.9 ° C	2.9 ° C	1.8 ° C	2.5 ° C	5.5 ° C	8.8 ° C	13.2 ° C	16.5 ° C	18.0 ° C	17.5 ° C	14.5 ° C	10.4 ° C	9.8 ° C

Precipitation has a minimum in the months of January to March and reaches a maximum in the summer months of July and August. However, the amount of summer precipitation usually falls within a few days in heavy downpours.

Rainfall	Nov	Dec	Jan.	Feb	March	Apr	May	Jun.	Jul.	Aug	Sep	Oct	year
2002/2003	80 mm	47 mm	53 mm	26 mm	24 mm	46 mm	46 mm	50 mm	54 mm	31 mm	42 mm	55 mm	554 mm
many years	57 mm	51 mm	47 mm	40 mm	48 mm	50 mm	59 mm	65 mm	74 mm	70 mm	48 mm	47 mm	656 mm

The mean sunshine duration is certainly at the lower end of the scale of values ​​required for viticulture. The comparison of the long-term mean with the so-called “summer of the century 2003” clearly shows that the area is dependent on age groups.

Sunshine duration	Nov	Dec	Jan.	Feb	March	Apr	May	Jun.	Jul.	Aug	Sep	Oct	year
2002/2003	52 h	36 h	52 h	142 h	175 h	206 h	211 h	278 h	229 h	279 h	215 h	105 h	1980 h
many years	52 h	35 h	39 h	69 h	103 h	136 h	177 h	176 h	183 h	174 h	139 h	103 h	1386 h

Zoning

Geologically and topographically, two cultivation regions can be distinguished:

• Upper region between Altenahr and Marienthal ;
• Lower region between Walporzheim and Heimersheim

Grape varieties

45 white and 22 red grape varieties are permitted for cultivation on the Ahr.

In these areas, 470 ha, that is approx. 83% (as of 2016) of the total area, are used for the cultivation of red grape varieties. The remaining 93 hectares are used to grow white varieties.

Of the grape varieties grown, only about a dozen have any market significance. The proportion of these individual varieties is shown in the following table.

Leading grape varieties on the Ahr (as of 2016) variety colour synonym Surface (%) Area (ha) 1. Pinot Noir red Pinot Noir 64.6 364 2. Riesling White 8.2 46 3. Frühburgunder red Pinot Madeleine, Klevner 6.2 35 4. Blue Portuguese red 3.9 22nd 5th Regent red 3.4 19th 6. White Burgundy White Klevner, Pinot Blanc 3.0 17th 7. Müller-Thurgau White Rivaner 2.7 15th 8. Dornfelder red 2.0 11 9. Dominatrix red 1.6 9 10. Pinot gris White Pinot gris, Ruländer 1.1 6th 11. Solaris White 0.5 3 12. Kerner White 0.4 2 13. Dark fields red 0.4 2 14. Acolon red 0.4 2 15. Ortega White 0.2 1 16. Merlot red 0.2 1 17. Cabernet Sauvignon red 0.2 1 18. Cabernet Mitos red 0.2 1 19. Cabernet Cortis red 0.2 1 20. Dakapo red 0.2 1 21. Zweigeltrebe red Blauer Zweigelt, Rotburger 0.2 1 22. Rotberger red 0.2 1 23. Chardonnay White 0.2 1 24. Johanniter White 0.2 1 25. Condiments White 0.2 1

Source:

Grapes of the red Pinot Noir grape variety

Approved red grape varieties

The development towards higher quality grape varieties began in 1972 in connection with land consolidation . The Pinot Noir clearly displaced the Blauer Portugieser. New breeds such as Dornfelder and Domina complete the range. In recent years, the good quality Frühburgunder has been grown more and more. The cultivation area cannot close itself off to the general success of the new varieties Regent and Acolon, although the cultivation area is very modest compared to other German areas.

Approved red grape varieties
Acolon Blue burger Cabernet Mitos Cabernet Sauvignon Dakapo Opaque red Dominatrix	Dornfelder Dark fields Pinot Noir Hegel Helfensteiner Herald vine Lemberger	Merlot Hall Portuguese regent rondo Rotberger Black Riesling	Pinot Noir St. Laurent Dove black Trollinger Zweigelt

Grapes of the white grape variety Gutedel

Approved white grape varieties

The area under cultivation of the white grape varieties has been in a constant downward trend since 1972 (at least 211 hectares at the time), but their representatives are still an important part of the Ahr's range. Especially on the slate and basalt soils , the Riesling shows its potential. Due to its currently lower market value, Müller-Thurgau gives way to other varieties. The Kerner is sometimes used as a blend with Riesling.

Approved white grape varieties
Albalonga Arnsburger Auxerrois Bacchus Bronner Chardonnay Ehrenbreitsteiner Ehrenfelser Elbling Faberrebe Boulder Freer Formerly Malingre Yellow muscatel Gewürztraminer	Gold Riesling Pinot Gris Gutedel Hibernal Holder Huxelrebe Johanniter jewel Chancellor Kerner Kernling Mariensteiner Merzling Morio nutmeg Müller-Thurgau (Rivaner)	Nutmeg Ottonel Noble Optima Orion Ortega Osteiner pearl Phoenix Principal Sprinkler Reichensteiner Rieslaner Riesling Sauvignon Blanc Scheurebe	Schoenburger Septimer Winning vine Silcher Silvaner Sirius Solaris Staufer White Burgundy Flavoring

Locations

This section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Individual layers including the areas are unoccupied. Otherwise, the information differs from that of the greater Klosterberg area.

Largest wine-growing communities in the growing area	Rank among all Rhineland-Palatinate wine-growing communities according to vineyards	Planted vineyards (in ha )	Grape varieties
			white	Red
			(in %)
Ahr		521	12.8	87.2
Bad-Neuenahr-Ahrweiler	54	284	6.9	93.1
Dernau	201	106	8.8	91.2

The Ahr cultivation area comprises the only area Walporzheim / Ahrtal and the only large area Klosterberg . The large area of ​​Klosterberg consists of the following individual layers :

Vineyard above Dernau

Ehlingen Heimersheimer Kapellenberg , 21.86 hectares	Lohrsdorf Heimersheimer Landskrone , 22.51 hectares	Heimersheim Landskrone , 22.51 hectares Burggarten , 21.40 hectares Kapellenberg , 21.86 hectares	Heppingen Heimersheimer Burggarten Heppinger Berg , 3.20 hectares
Neuenahr Sonnenberg , 46.62 hectares Slate , 23.50 hectares Church tower , 17.00 hectares	Bachem Karlskopf , 18.55 hectares Sunshine , 29.16 hectares Steinkaul , 48.20 hectares	Ahrweiler Daubhaus , 34.80 hectares Forstberg , 33.66 hectares Rosenthal , 50.75 hectares Silberberg , 28.66 hectares Riegelfeld , 18.90 hectares Ursuline Garden, 24.02 hectares	Walporzheim Heaven , 26.45 hectares Herb Mountain , 5.15 hectares Fermentation chamber , 0.68 hectares Old Lay , 6.11 acres Pfaffenberg , 27.00 hectares Domlay , 29.92 hectares
Marienthal Rosenberg , 15.21 hectares Jesuit garden, 11.56 hectares Trotzenberg , 7.97 hectares Monastery garden , 9.6 hectares Stiftsberg , 12.22 hectares	Dernau Hardtberg , 30.00 hectares Pfarrwingert , 10.00 hectares Slate , 21.00 hectares Burggarten , 24.00 hectares Goldkaul , 50.00 hectares	Right Hardtberg , 28.30 hectares Flower , 24.20 hectares Herrenberg , 27.00 hectares	Mayschoss Mönchberg , 43.00 hectares Burgberg , 14.50 hectares Laacherberg , 49.00 hectares Slate , 28.00 hectares Silberberg , 22.00 hectares Lochmuhlerley , 10.50 acres
Altenahr Corner , 22 hectares Übigberg , 32 hectares	Reimerzhoven Altenahrer Eck	Kreuzberg Altenahrer Übigberg	Pützfeld Altenahrer Übigberg

See also

• Ahr red wine route
• Ahr wine queen
• Red wine hiking trail
• Viticulture in Rhineland-Palatinate

literature

• Carsten Sebastian Henn : Henn's wine guide Ahr. Emons, Cologne 2006
• Jancis Robinson : The Oxford Wine Lexicon . Hallwag, Gräfe and Unzer, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-8338-0691-5 .
• Dieter Braatz, Ulrich Sauter, Ingo Swoboda, Hendrik Holler: Wine Atlas Germany . 1st edition. Hallwag, Munich, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8338-0638-4 .
• Stuart Pigott , Andreas Durst, Ursula Heinzelmann, Chandra Kurt, Manfred Lüer, Stephan Reinhardt: Wine speaks German . 1st edition. Scherz, Frankfurt am Main, 2007, ISBN 978-3-502-19000-4 .

• Vera Kettenbach, Carsten Sebastian Henn: The Ahr Valley from Bodendorf to Altenahr (with red wine hiking trail). 3. Edition. Gaasterland, Düsseldorf 2010
• Wilhelm Meyer: geology. In: W. Kolbe, T. Macke, W. Meyer, BM Möseler, M. Rütten: Geological-biological excursion in the area of ​​the large Ahr loop near Altenahr on June 25, 1988. Decheni ana, Vol. 142, pp. 157-159 , 1 fig .; Natural History Association of the Rhineland and Westphalia, Bonn 1989.
• Wilhelm Meyer: Geology of the Eifel. 3rd supplemented edition. Swiss beard, Stuttgart 1994.
• Dieter Schewe: King and monastery wines of the Rhine / Ahr region - wine history 643 - 1257. Sinzig 2005, ISBN 3-9809438-2-8 .
• Karsten Weddige : Mosel-Trog, lower grades according to Mittmeyer and Solle. In: K. Weddige (Ed.): Contributions to joint tasks of the German sub-commission for Devonian stratigraphy, 1: Devonian correlation table. (Senckenbergiana lethaea, volume 76). Issue 1/2, p. 277; Frankfurt am Main 1996.

Web links

• Ahr winegrowers' association
• A media show with news, reports and opinions about the Ahr wine-growing region (discontinued on May 2, 2012)
• History of the region

Individual evidence

1. ↑ German Wine Institute : Statistics 2013–2014 . Mainz 2013 ( deutscheweine.de ( Memento from July 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) [PDF; 219 kB ]).
2. ↑ German Wine Institute : Statistics 2013–2014 . Mainz 2013 ( deutscheweine.de ( Memento from July 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) [PDF; 219 kB ]).
3. ↑ Viticulture on the Ahr in the early and high Middle Ages. The becoming of a wine landscape . Writings on wine history No. 146. Herborn, Wolfgang. Wiesbaden 2004, ISSN  0302-0967
4. ↑ Rotweinzug for German colonial forces in German South West Africa
5. ^ Ahr & Middle Rhine. A wine guide . Busche wine tour, Dortmund 2011, ISBN 978-3-89764-252-2 .
6. ↑ Meyer 1994: Fig. 12
7. ↑ Meyer 1994: 34-36
8. ↑ Weddige 1996.
9. ↑ Meyer 1989: 159
10. ↑ State Statistical Office of Rhineland Palatinate: Planted vineyards 2016, online . Mainz 2016.