Westerhaus Castle
The Westerhaus Castle is the largest Hofgut in Rheinhessen . It is on the Westerberg near Großwinternheim near Ingelheim am Rhein .
history
In 1408 there is a first documentary mention of a Hus und ecker uff deme Westirberge . It is assumed that the actual founding dates back much longer and is related to the founding of the imperial palace of Charlemagne in Ingelheim in the 8th century. The General Directorate for Cultural Heritage assigns the first mention in its list of cultural monuments in Ingelheim am Rhein to the year 1190. The Counts of Bolanden and Ingelheim resided in Westerhaus Castle for over 600 years . As a fiefdom of the Electoral Palatinate, Westerhaus Castle was owned by the Counts of Ingelheim for over 400 years until it was expropriated by French revolutionary troops at the beginning of the 19th century .
On October 4, 1900, Heinrich Opel from Rüsselsheim, one of Adam Opel's five sons , acquired the property to expand it into a model estate. His wife Emilie was one of several daughters of the Grand Ducal Hessian Economic Council Friedrich Weber (1841–1917), tenant of the Hessian state domain Mönchhof near Kelsterbach and later owner of the Petersau estate .
Back then, the Westerhaus was difficult to reach and difficult to manage. All supplies had to be carried with horse and ox carts over steep ravines to the farm estate on the Westerberg. A stiff west wind and the skeletal loess soil made the agricultural business difficult.
The construction of a road began in 1916 when the military government of Mainz fortress wanted to build another line of defense parallel to the Mainz mountain ; the Selzstellung was the last and most expensive defensive ring that was built for the fortress. First a route was laid from the Altegasse up to the Westerhaus and then the construction of a rack railway began. The aim was to protect the Westerberg to the east with trenches and fortifications against the French. Although the railway was completed, the fortress belt was not, as the military changed their plans. Therefore the train was removed again.
Heinrich von Opel had this route expanded into a private road in 1920. His daughter Irmgard von Opel later provided the asphalt layer. For a long time afterwards, the street was known as the Zahnrad-Chaussee . The appearance of the two-part complex with the castle courtyard and service courtyard is shaped by the renovation and expansion work between 1922 and 1927. The castle-like mansard hipped roof building from the 1920s can be seen from afar from the valley. The ensemble is complemented by a terraced park with a water basin and enclosure. A stepped gable building can be found under the outbuildings, the core of which was probably built in the 16th or 17th century. Its stair tower and wine press house date from 1922. The mighty barn with a mansard roof was also built in the 1920s.
With the acquisition of the Eulenmühle in Selztal , Opels secured water rights . The water was brought up the mountain with a pumping system. The irrigation that this made possible and new agricultural methods such as deep plowing and the first mechanization significantly increased economic success. For several years there was even a dwarf school at Westerhaus Castle , where eight children from four grades were taught.
The property includes a stud with a striking riding hall. In the 1930s Irmgard von Opel was probably the best rider in the world in military and jumping saddles at the time. She won many tests at home and abroad and in 1934 she was the first woman to win the German jumping derby in Klein-Flottbek (today in Hamburg) with her gray Nanuk . The Westerberg Stud Monument Zone was founded in 1912. It is characterized by park-like open spaces, paddocks and riding arenas, which are lined with old trees. The relaxed manorial neo-baroque assembly was essentially built between 1920 and the beginning of the 1930s.
Todays use
Today the Schloss Westerhaus winery is the most famous part of the Hofgut. In 1978 Heinz von Opel and his wife Claudia took over the Westerberg and opened it more and more to the public since 1979. They planted trees and invited strollers to enjoy the view from the hill and laid out a wine trail.
Since 2008, Ivonne Countess von Schönburg-Glauchau (née von Opel) and her husband Johannes Graf von Schönburg-Glauchau have been running the Schloss Westerhaus estate in the fourth generation . The jazz events and the 3-day courtyard festival traditionally held on Whitsun, which are offered in the vicinity of the palace complex, are known and popular beyond the region. Westerhaus Castle has been the venue for the Rheingau Music Festival since 2019.
The winery cultivates a total of 18 hectares of vineyards in the Ingelheimer Schloss Westerhaus monopoly , as well as in the Sonnenhang, Schlossberg, Sonnenberg and Klostergarten locations. 70% of the vineyards are planted with Burgundy varieties, 30% with Riesling. Since 1983 the winery has been organized in the VDP, the Association of German Predicate and Quality Wineries , in the Rheinhessen Regional Association. Heinz von Opel, who died in 2006, was chairman of the VDP Rheinhessen and vice-president of the VDP Bundesverband.
The winery appeared on the DM list of the 100 best wineries in Germany for the first time in 1987. Since 1990, the winery has consistently been one of the 1000 best goods in the world. In Gault Millau, the winery has been rated with 2 red grapes and was last rated as a climber in 2019. Further ratings can be found in the Vinum Wine Guide (2.5 stars, 2019) and in the Falstaff Wine Guide (3 stars, 2019).
See also
literature
- Günter Schenk: Travel Guide Rheinhessen, Rheingau , Verlag Peter Rump GmbH, Bielefeld 2017; therein p. 158
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 56 '21.2 " N , 8 ° 3' 32.9" E