Viticulture in Rhineland-Palatinate

Grape leaves form the people's crown on the coat of arms of Rhineland-Palatinate.

The viticulture in Rhineland-Palatinate plays an important role in the economic life of the country.

A total of six of the 13 German wine-growing regions for quality and predicate wines are located within the state borders of Rhineland-Palatinate . More than 65% of German wine is produced in the Rhineland-Palatinate wine-growing regions of Ahr , Middle Rhine , Moselle , Nahe , Palatinate and Rheinhessen . In order to express this special value of the wine, there is a people's crown made of grape leaves on the state coat of arms . In addition, with the Ministry of Economics, Transport, Agriculture and Viticulture, there is a state authority that officially includes the term viticulture in its title.

The German Wine Route is also located in Rhineland-Palatinate.

Wine-growing areas

In Rhineland-Palatinate, the six wine-growing regions of Ahr , Middle Rhine , Mosel , Nahe , Rheinhessen and Palatinate have a total of approx. 64,174 ha of vineyards. Of the approx. 102,592 ha in Germany, Rhineland-Palatinate has the largest share. Overall, the Rhineland-Palatinate wine-growing regions are responsible for more than 65% of the wines produced in Germany. For this reason, the Bad Kreuznach public prosecutor's office also has the state central office for wine and food criminal matters, which processes around 250 proceedings annually.

Variety mirror

White wine

The most widely planted white wine grape variety (about 45,777 hectares ) are in descending order: Riesling (≈ 17 469 hectares), Müller-Thurgau (Rivaner ≈ 7,795 hectares), Pinot Gris (Pinot Grigio ≈ 3,840 hectares), Pinot Blanc (≈ 3,225 hectares) Silvaner (≈ 3,067 hectares), Kerner (≈ 1,987 hectares), Chardonnay (≈ 1,612 hectares), Scheurebe (≈ 1,154 hectares), Sauvignon Blanc (≈ 854 hectares), Bacchus , Faberrebe , Huxelrebe , Ortega , Morio-Muscat , Elbling , Gewürztraminer , Reichensteiner , Ehrenfelser , Siegerrebe , Optima , Regner , Würzer , Auxerrois .

38 percent of the total vineyard area in Rhineland-Palatinate was planted with Riesling vines in 2017. This is the highest proportion for this traditionally important grape variety in the country that has been proven over the past thirty years.

red wine

The red wine grape varieties (≈ 18,397 hectares), these are, in descending order: Dornfelder (≈ 7,057 hectares), Pinot Noir (≈ 4,232 hectares), Blue Portugal (≈ 2701 ha) Regent (≈ 1,363 hectares), St. Laurent (≈ 590 hectares) , Merlot (≈ 525 hectares), Cabernet Sauvignon (≈ 326 hectares), Dunkelfelder , Frühburgunder , Müllerrebe , Heroldrebe , Cabernet Mitos , Acolon , Cabernet Dorsa , Domina .

sparkling wine

Also significant are sparkling wineries: Kupferberg and gold hand ( Viticulture in Mainz ), Deinhardstein ( Koblenz ), Schloss Wachenheim ( wachenheim ), Faber ( Trier ) as well as many small and medium producers of sparkling wine . Since the 2000s, the Raumland sparkling wine house has been one of the most distinguished in Germany and the first and only VDP sparkling wine.

Company sizes

The number of wine-growing businesses in the state fell between 2007 and 2010 from 11037 businesses to 9382, which is a reduction of 15 percent. This went hand in hand with an increase in the average available farm size to an area of 6.8 hectares in 2010 compared to the value of 4.1 hectares ten years earlier. The general process of concentration in German agriculture has therefore taken place much faster in the Rhineland-Palatinate viticulture than in agriculture in general. In 2010, 23 percent of the wine-growing businesses cultivated around 61 percent of the vineyards in Rhineland-Palatinate.

Great Wine Capitals

Since June 2008, Mainz and Rheinhessen have been members of the Great Wine Capitals Global Network ( GWC ) - an association of the most famous wine-growing cities worldwide. In addition to Mainz, this network includes cities and regions such as Bilbao: Rioja , Bordeaux: Bordeaux (wine-growing region) , Christchurch: South Island (New Zealand) , Florence: Tuscany , Cape Town: Cape-Winelands , Mendoza: Mendoza , Porto: Douro Valley and San Francisco: Napa Valley .

List of the largest wine communities in the respective growing regions

Largest wine-growing communities in the growing area	Rank among all wine-growing communities in RLP according to vineyards	Area under vines (in hectares)	Grape variety (proportions in percent)
Largest wine-growing communities in the growing area		Area under vines (in hectares)	White wine	red wine
Ahr		562	16.3	83.7
Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler	53	286	9.5	90.5
Dernau	196	109	12.8	87.1
Middle Rhine		450	85.1	14.9
Boppard	262	67	87.4	12.6
Oberheimbach	283	57	89.9	10.1
Moselle		8,691	90.5	9.5
Piesport	31	401	94.8	5.2
Conc	60	271	92.5	7.5
Zell (Moselle)	61	268	93	7th
Leiwen	63	256	94.0	6.0
Bernkastel-Kues	72	234	95.9	4.1
Brauneberg	75	229	89.2	10.8
Mehring	76	225	95.3	4.7
Trittenheim	80	221	94.0	6.0
Near		4,203	75.4	24.6
Bad Kreuznach	5	832	78.8	21.2
Guldental	32	393	71.7	28.3
Wallhausen	67	239	66	34
almond	94	192	69.3	30.7
Rheinhessen		26,578	70.1	29.9
Worms	3	1,564	62.6	37.4
Nierstein	7th	791	76.2	23.8
Westhofen	8th	786	73.1	26.9
Alzey	9	778	72.0	28.0
Alsheim	10	705	72.7	27.3
Bechtheim	11	664	72.4	27.6
Flörsheim-Dalsheim	12	643	67.2	32.8
Ingelheim am Rhein	13	635	49.7	50.3
Bingen am Rhein	15th	567	72.9	27.1
Saulheim	16	521	75.4	24.6
Osthofen	20th	474	70.1	29.9
Guntersblum	21st	467	73.2	26.8
Dittelsheim-Hessloch	23	467	72.1	27.9
Stadecken-Elsheim	24	442	73.6	26.4
Palatinate		23,613	63.7	26.3
Landau in the Palatinate	1	2,062	63.9	36.1
Neustadt an der Weinstrasse	2	2,028	65.9	34.1
Cheap home-Ingenheim	4th	839	61.4	38.6
Bad Dürkheim	6th	822	66.7	33.3
Kirrweiler (Palatinate)	14th	587	66.8	33.2
Edesheim	17th	505	60.0	40.0
Deidesheim	18th	497	85.1	14.6
Wachenheim on the Wine Route	19th	474	74.1	25.9
Goecklingen	22nd	463	65.3	34.7
Freinsheim	25th	436	60.6	39.4
Bockenheim on the Wine Route	27	432	59.1	40.9
Heuchelheim blades	30th	403	61.4	38.6
Ruppertsberg	34	391	79.4	20.6

Legal

In Rhineland-Palatinate, winegrowers who want to read ice wine have been required to register since 2013 . The winemakers must report the location and the temperature at which the reading is carried out. Appropriate wine inspectors check the quality of the grapes. The reporting requirement became necessary because in 2011 a large part of the supposed ice wine was not recognized by the auditors. 102 companies registered for this in the first year.

State wineries in Rhineland-Palatinate

The four state wineries are legally and organizationally dependent institutions of the Service Centers Rural Areas (DLR) . The fifth Rhineland-Palatinate state winery Staatliche Weinbaudomäne Trier in Trier-Avelsbach has been leased to the social welfare organization of the German Red Cross since 2016 . The

State wine-growing domain in Oppenheim
State winery Mosel Bernkastel-Kues
Bad Kreuznach State Winery
State winery Johannitergut Neustadt an der Weinstrasse

generated a total deficit of 3.1 million euros in 2014, that is between 14,000 and 118,000 euros per hectare per farm. The existence of another company is called into question. In its 2014 audit report, the Rhineland-Palatinate Court of Auditors criticized in particular insufficient utilization of cellar capacities, lack of harvest volumes and a lack of increased sales, as well as the reduction in personnel costs. In the trial operation, there was a lack of concrete targets, prioritization and proper resource planning and further: "In some of the trials, there was no public interest."

Cinema Vino

Kino Vino was a form of communication policy of the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Agriculture and Viticulture. Since 1995 this series of events, unique in its form, has played a role in the marketing mix of this state. In 2017, the support of the MWVLW.rlp was withdrawn from the event.

Viticulture in Rhineland-Palatinate is represented by six wine-growing regions with six special wines. A brut wine sparkling wine and a grape juice from Rhineland-Palatinate grape production complete the range of products presented in connection with sophisticated cinema films. In 2008, 28 cinemas were involved in this event marketing . The wines submitted are blindly tasted and judged by a jury with the participation of media partners such as a specialist magazine, a radio station, the German Wine Institute, city magazine , the ministry and a wine queen of the state . The winning wines are issued during the cinema events, mostly in city cinemas .