Rheinhessen
A German wine region in the Rhine heartland — part of a country considered one of the world's top producers of elegant white wines.
About the region
Rheinhessen is one of Germany's wine regions, lying in the Rhine heartland. Germany is considered one of the world's top producers of elegant white wines — its top rieslings have ravishing purity and concentration — and its vineyards lie at the northernmost extreme of where grapes can dependably ripen. The majority of fine German wines are dry or just a touch off-dry; the exceptions are the expensive late-harvest dessert wines (beerenauslesen, trockenbeerenauslesen and eisweins), which are crafted to be sweet. German wine is organised by a traditional hierarchy of six ascending ripeness levels, and since the turn of the twenty-first century by the modern, vineyard-based VDP system adopted by more than two hundred of the country's most prestigious estates. Acidity is the German constant: most German wines carry 6 to 8 grams per litre, against 5 to 6 for most Champagne.
Grapes grown here
Riesling, Silvaner
