Rheingau

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Rheingau cultural landscape stretches on the right bank of the Rhine from Walluf to Lorchhausen and encompasses the area from the Rhine to the heights of the Taunus main ridge . The Rhine is diverted here from its general north and flows for about 30 kilometers to the west, to the Binger Loch . The dominant terrain in the Rheingau is therefore the southern slope. But the steep cut of the Rhine into the Rhenish Slate Mountains from Binger Loch to Lorch is still part of this landscape. Naturally , the Rheingau is part of the Rhine-Main Lowland and forms the main unit 236. Extensive parts of the Rheingau essentially form the Rheingau wine-growing region of the same name .

The Rheingau is characterized by numerous sights. Politically it belongs to the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the state of Hesse .

Map section with the former Rheingau district from 1905

geography

landscape

Höllenberg vineyard in Assmannshausen

The region is divided into three parts:

  • There are gently sloping, loess-covered vineyards, villages and wineries directly on the Rhine . The old cultural landscape has many historical castles , palaces , churches and monasteries that make the Rheingau attractive for tourism.
  • Above the vineyards, the Rheingau merges into the so-called Rheingau Mountains with the hinterland forest . The quartz ridge with the highest elevation in the Rheingau, the Kalten Herberge (619 m), a wooded knoll above Hallgarten , falls with many small stream valleys into the Wisper Valley . This landscape is covered with ravine forests, raised bogs and meadow streams.
  • Between Rüdesheim am Rhein and Lorch , the Rhine flows north between high, wooded mountain ridges. This section of the Middle Rhine Valley - the epitome of Rhine romanticism in Goethe's time - is characterized by rock groups, dry forests and smaller wine-growing areas that border the localities. Some of Germany's most famous wines thrive here.

climate

The climate in the Rheingau is characterized by warm, dry summers and mild winters. In the local areas near the Rhine, Mediterranean woody plants (fig trees, olives, loquat, eucalyptus, palm trees, apricots and peaches) grow in the gardens, while vegetation adapted to the drought prevails on the steep slopes of the Rhine. The average daytime temperatures in the summer months are over 19 ° C, rarely below 1 ° C in winter. The annual rainfall is between 450 mm in some places on the Rhine and over 1000 mm on the Kalten Herberge .

Floors

The Rheingau comprises a large number of very different soils. One differentiates essentially:

  • Loess and loess loam soils: these soils are the most widespread - all layers of the eastern and central Rheingau and the lower layers of Lorch.
  • Soils made of quartzite ( Taunus quartzite ): higher altitudes of the eastern and central Rheingau and near Lorch.
  • Soils made of clay slate ("Hunsrück slate") and phyllite: the former in Rüdesheim am Rüdesheimer Berg and Lorch, the latter in Assmannshausen, Kiedrich, Martinsthal and Rauenthal.
  • Soils made of sands, clays and clay marl of the Tertiary: common in all wine-growing communities between Wicker and Rüdesheim.
  • Soils made from young alluvial sediments: widespread in the lower layers of the Rhine and Main.

Sources for further information can be found under the web links.

history

Expansion of the Rheingau in its original limits to the Odenwald, here in the year 1000 in the Duchy of West Franconia

In the old Franconian Empire , the Rheingau was a district that was administered by the Rheingrafen on behalf of the king . In its original extent it included the later Lower Rhinegau (which subsequently kept the name Rheingau), the Königssondergau (today roughly the area of ​​the state capital Wiesbaden and the western Main-Taunus district ) and the Upper Rhineau south of the Lower Main. To the east lay the Niddagau and Maingau and to the north the Lahngau .

As early as the Carolingian period, the Rheingau came increasingly under the influence of the Archdiocese of Mainz . The founding of the Bleidenstadt Abbey in the Taunus by Archbishop Lullus suggests a considerable influence. With Rabanus Maurus , an Archbishop of Mainz is mentioned for the first time in 850, who had a residence in the Rheingau. In 983 Archbishop Willigis took part in the Diet of Otto II in Verona , where he made the so-called “Veronese donation” on June 13th . The donation granted the archbishopric areas from Ingelheim to Heimbach and Kaub , the area on both sides of the lower Nahe and the Rheingau on the right bank of the Rhine as fiefs . It was the basis for a large part of the later electoral state ( Kurmainz ), over which the archbishop ruled as sovereign. He gradually pushed back the influence of the Rhine Counts. The archbishops made the local nobles increasingly dependent. Under Archbishop Adalbert I , Kurmainz had unrestricted rule over the Rheingau from 1130. The Vizedomamt Rheingau existed as an administrative unit in Kurmainz . An important instrument for the implementation of Mainz policy in the Rheingau was the foundation of monasteries. The first of around a dozen were Johannisberg (between 1106 and 1108), Eberbach (first time in 1116) and Mittelheim (1158). The electoral castle Eltville , begun under Archbishop Balduin , developed into an important residence for the archbishops.

For 600 years until the end of the 18th century, the Rheingau was surrounded by the Rheingau Gebück , a natural border fortification consisting of "bent" beeches.

In 1525 the German Peasants' War reached the Rheingau. The farmers camped on the juniper heather in front of the Eberbach monastery. From there, they looted supplies from the monastery. Among other things, they demanded the dissolution of the monasteries in the Rheingau. The rebellious farmers forced a declaration that the Rheingau monasteries were no longer allowed to accept monks. When the troops of the Swabian League approached, the peasants surrendered. The declaration became irrelevant. Nine peasant ringleaders were beheaded. The previous privileges of the Rheingau ( Rheingau Weistum ) were revoked and the people were obliged to pay special taxes of fifteen thousand gulden .

Grape picker and cellar master from the lower Rheingau around 1900

After the electoral state was dissolved, the Rheingau went to Nassau-Usingen in 1803 and was divided into the offices of Eltville and Rüdesheim at the time of the Duchy of Nassau . After the annexation of the duchy by the Kingdom of Prussia , the Rheingaukreis was created in March 1867 as a district in the administrative district of Wiesbaden in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau . After the original great district was divided in 1886, the remaining area of ​​the Rheingau district was identical to the Rheingau during the Electoral Mainz era. After the merger of the Rheingau district with the Untertaunus district to form the Rheingau-Taunus district on January 1, 1977 as part of the regional reform in Hesse , the Rheingau is no longer a term for a political administrative unit. However, the Rheingau is still the name of a cultural landscape to which its residents have retained a bond. This can be seen in the self-designation “Rheingau”, which is often used to outsiders.

Viticulture

The late reading rider in the courtyard of Johannisberg Castle, Geisenheim

The climatic conditions favor viticulture , which was already practiced in the region at the time of Charlemagne . Rheingau wines, especially the Rheingau Riesling , enjoy a top reputation all over the world. The specific wine-growing region Rheingau mentioned in ( § 3 Abs. 1 Nr. 9 Wine Law ) is more broadly defined than the Rheingau itself; for example, it also includes locations in Hochheim am Main .

As outstanding as the Rheingau is from the point of view of quality, in terms of its size, with its 3100 hectares of vineyards, it is one of the smallest German growing areas and ranks seventh. Almost 2.5% of the German wine harvest is produced here - a total of around 20 million liters of wine per year, 85% of which is white. The average yield is 6700 liters per hectare, which is significantly less than the German average of around 9500 liters.

Among the grape varieties, Riesling takes the undisputed top position with almost 80%, while Spätburgunder has around 12.5% ​​and Müller-Thurgau only two percent. The Rieslings from the eastern and central Rheingau, provided they come from the lower elevations on sandy loam soils, are always fuller, stronger and more earthy with age than those that grow on slate weathered in Rüdesheim. These are more elegant and dazzling. The wines from Lorch are an exception.

Attractions

Shrine with the bones of St. Hildegard von Bingen in the parish church of Eibingen

As a cultural land, the Rheingau has numerous sights to offer, including castles, castles, monasteries and churches of cultural and historical interest, some with wineries, restaurants and hotels, including Reinhartshausen Castle in Eltville-Erbach , Eberbach Monastery in Eltville , Vollrads Castle in Oestrich-Winkel , Burg Schwarzenstein in Geisenheim and Johannisberg Castle in Geisenheim-Johannisberg with its basilica.

A university and a boarding school are also housed in castles in the Rheingau: The EBS University for Economics and Law is located in Reichartshausen Castle in Oestrich-Winkel , and the Hansenberg Castle Boarding School for the gifted is located in Hansenberg Castle .

The old towns of Rüdesheim with the world-famous Drosselgasse , Eltville with the electoral castle , the Catholic parish church of St. Peter and Paul and Kiedrich , the Gothic wine village in the Rheingau, with its former parish church of St. Valentinus , still the oldest Protestant church in the Rheingau , the Johanneskirche in Eltville-Erbach, the Niederwald monument above Rüdesheim and the Oestricher crane , the last surviving wine loading crane on the banks of the Rhine. The cold hostel near Hallgarten is the highest point in the Rheingau. The Upper Middle Rhine Valley World Heritage Site begins from Rüdesheim . Particularly worth seeing here is the wine town of Lorch with the richly decorated Gothic St. Martinus Church with the largest and oldest monochrome carved altar in Germany. The Hilchenhaus , also located in Lorch , is considered the most important Renaissance building in the world heritage of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley.

There are also other interesting castles and palaces as well as monasteries and churches .

Culture

literature

  • Karl Rolf Seufert : The intellectual currents have never dried up . In: The Hessian Minister for Agriculture and Forests, Freundeskreis Kloster Eberbach e. V. (Ed.): Eberbach in the Rheingau. Cistercian - Culture - Wine . The Hessian Minister for Agriculture and Forests, Wiesbaden / Eltville 1986, p. 9-40 .
  • Dirk M. Becker: vivat Wiesbaden and Rheingau - walks between tradition and modernity . Universum Verlag 2006, ISBN 3-89869-141-1
  • Baedeker Wiesbaden Rheingau . Karl Baedeker, Ostfildern-Kemnat 2001, ISBN 3-87954-076-4
  • Oliver Bock: Rhinegau from A to Z . Societäts Verlag, ISBN 3-7973-0921-X
  • Oliver Bock: Rheingau wine tasters . Societäts Verlag
  • Oliver Bock: The Rheingau - The golden mean of the river . Societäts Verlag
  • Alfred Zirwes: Out and about in the Rheingau . Societäts Verlag
  • Hans Ambrosi , Wolfgang Blum: Pure Rheingau . Rhein Main publishing group
  • Herbert Michel: Rheingau dialect . Society for the promotion of the Geisenheim research institute on the occasion of its 125th anniversary, ISBN 3-9805265-1-8
  • Magazine for culture and lifestyle - vivat Wiesbaden and Rheingau . Universum Verlag Wiesbaden
  • C. u. F. Lange: The wine dictionary . Fischer Verlag 2003, ISBN 3-596-15867-2
  • Richard Henk: Rheingau . Brausdruck, Heidelberg, ISBN 3-921524-90-3
  • Martin Mosebach: The Rheingau . In: (an essay in German landscapes ), S. Fischer Verlag 2003, ISBN 3-10-070404-5
  • Emil Rittershaus : The Rheingau bells . In: The Gazebo . Issue 1, 1878, pp. 7 ( full text [ Wikisource ] poem).
  • Alfred Zirwes: Out and about in the Rheingau Mountains . Societäts Verlag, ISBN 3-7973-0839-6
  • Alfred Zirwes: On a cure in the Rheingau . Self-published, ISBN 3-00-015910-X
  • Walter Hell: From the Mainz Wheel to the Hessian Lion . Sutton Verlag, Eltville 2008, ISBN 978-3-86680-356-5
  • Günter Schenk : Rheinhessen, Rheingau: Handbook for individual discovery . Reise Know-How-Verlag Peter Rump, Bielefeld 2017

Web links

Commons : Rheingau  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Rheingau  - travel guide
Wiktionary: Rheingau  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. Karl Rolf Seufert : The spiritual currents have never dried up . In: The Hessian Minister for Agriculture and Forests, Freundeskreis Kloster Eberbach e. V. (Ed.): Eberbach in the Rheingau . Cistercian - Culture - Wine. The Hessian Minister for Agriculture and Forests, Wiesbaden / Eltville 1986, p. 9-40 .
  2. ^ Hesse wants federal money for world heritage sites Frankfurter Rundschau from March 31, 2009