The Rhine-Hessen district does not lie in Hessen, as the name suggests, but in the Rhineland-Pfalz area. It is basically a triangular area around Mainz, Worms and Bingen and the great Rhine region in the North and East. In history, as well as today, an inconspicuous region. It's qualities aren't obvious at first glance, and yet a Riesling of such elegance and refinement that is hard to find elsewhere thrives here. The limestone soil between Bingen and Mainz bring forth strong and marked wines, The most typical area in Rhine-Hessen is the sweetly swinging hill-country around Alzey. Italian harvest-help built the typical wine-houses, so-called 'trulli'.
Rhine-Hessen is marked by its variety of vines. The leader of the 30 vines grown here is the Müller-Thurgau at about 23%, followed by Sylvan (13%), Kerner, Riesling, Shy Vine, Bacchus, Portuguese, Morio-Muskat, Huxel vine, Dornfelder, Ruländer, Ortega and Late Burgundy. Then there are the new breeds Siegerrebe, Schönburger, Würzer and Optima. Also French vines such as the Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon und Merlot are newly represented. Though there are many excellent wines, the vintners still put emphasis on quantity over quality. The typical Rhine sweetness is being replaced more and more by dry wines.
The Rhine specialties can be enjoyed at the bloom-, vintner-, and winefestivals. Especially "Weinforum Rheinhessen", at which the hundred best wines and sparkling wines are presented at the end of October in the Museum of the Antique.
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