Ahr is a region (
Anbaugebiet) for quality
wine in GermanyGerman wine is primarily produced in the southwest of Germany, along river Rhine and its tributaries, with the oldest plantations going back to the Roman era. Approximately 60 per cent of the German wine production is situated in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, where 6 of the 13 regions ...
, and is located in the valley of the river
AhrThe Ahr is a river in Germany, a left tributary of the Rhine. Its source is at a height of approximately 470 meters above sea level in Blankenheim in the Eifel, in the cellar of a half-timbered house near the castle of Blankenheim...
, a tributary of
RhineThe Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at , with an average discharge of more than ....
, and is situated in the federal state of
Rhineland-PalatinateRhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 federal states of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz....
. With only of vines as of 2006, it is one of smaller of
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
's 13 regions. Despite its northern location (it is for example situated north of Mosel region) it primarily produces red wines, and red grape varieties account for 88% of the vineyard area, which is more than in any other German wine region.
It is believed that vines were cultivated in the Ahr valley already in Roman times, as is the case with nearby Mosel, although definite documentary evidence to this effect seems to be lacking.
Ahr is a region (
Anbaugebiet) for quality
wine in GermanyGerman wine is primarily produced in the southwest of Germany, along river Rhine and its tributaries, with the oldest plantations going back to the Roman era. Approximately 60 per cent of the German wine production is situated in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, where 6 of the 13 regions ...
, and is located in the valley of the river
AhrThe Ahr is a river in Germany, a left tributary of the Rhine. Its source is at a height of approximately 470 meters above sea level in Blankenheim in the Eifel, in the cellar of a half-timbered house near the castle of Blankenheim...
, a tributary of
RhineThe Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at , with an average discharge of more than ....
, and is situated in the federal state of
Rhineland-PalatinateRhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 federal states of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz....
. With only of vines as of 2006, it is one of smaller of
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
's 13 regions. Despite its northern location (it is for example situated north of Mosel region) it primarily produces red wines, and red grape varieties account for 88% of the vineyard area, which is more than in any other German wine region.
History
It is believed that vines were cultivated in the Ahr valley already in Roman times, as is the case with nearby Mosel, although definite documentary evidence to this effect seems to be lacking. However, a property list of the
BenedictineBenedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
Prüm AbbeyPrüm Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey in Prüm/Lorraine, now in the Diocese of Trier , founded by a Frankish widow Bertrada, and her son Charibert, count of Laon, on 23 June 720. The first abbot was Angloardus....
drawn up in the year 893 AD, called the
Prümer Urbar, lists vineyards in eight Ahr locations, so at least at this time, winemaking in the Ahr region was established.
Geography and climate
Situated between
50°The 50th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 50 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane.Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 50° north passes through:-Karafuto:...
and
51° northThe 51st parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 51 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane.Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 51° north passes through:-See also:*50th parallel north*52nd parallel north...
, Ahr is the world's most northern region dominated by red wine grapes. So far north, very good sites with a warm microclimate are needed to properly ripen red wine grapes, and the Ahr vineyards are said to have a "Mediterranean"
microclimateA microclimate is a local atmospheric zone where the climate differs from the surrounding area. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square feet or as large as many square miles...
. Most vineyards are located on terraced slopes facing southwest to southeast along the middle and lower portions of river Ahr, over a stretch of 25 kilometers, from
AltenahrAltenahr is a municipality in the district of Ahrweiler, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Ahr, in the Eifel mountains, approx. 10 km west of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler....
to the Rhine. The wine-growing parts of the Ahr valley enjoy protection from the
EifelThe Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium.-Geography:...
mountains resulting in a favoured mesoclimate.
Soils vary between
slateSlate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary...
,
basaltBasalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey.On Earth, most...
and
greywackeGreywacke or Graywacke is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness, dark color, and poorly-sorted, angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or lithic fragments set in a compact, clay-fine matrix. It is a texturally-immature sedimentary rock generally found...
clayClay is a naturally occurring material composed primarily of fine-grained minerals, which show plasticity through a variable range of water content, and which can be hardened when dried and/or fired...
of
volcanic3. Conduit
4. Base
5. Sill
6. Dike
7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano
8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano
10. Throat
11. Parasitic cone
12. Lava flow
13. Vent
14. Crater
15...
origin.
Ahr consists of a single district (
Bereich) called Walporzheim-Ahrtal, only one collective vineyard site (
Großlage) called Klosterberg, and 43 single vineyard sites.
Grape varieties
At 61.5% or 337 ha in 2006, Ahr grows a higher proportion of the much-appreciated Spätburgunder (
Pinot NoirPinot noir is a red wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines produced predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...
) than any other German wine region. Portugieser (8.8%),
RieslingRiesling is a white grape variety which originates in the Rhine region of Germany. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet and sparkling white wines. Riesling wines are usually varietally...
(7.1%), Frühburgunder,
DornfelderDornfelder is a dark-skinned variety of grape of German origin used for red wine. It was created by August Herold at the grape breeding institute in Weinsberg in the Württemberg region in 1955. Herold crossed the grape varieties Helfensteiner and Heroldrebe, the latter which bears his name, to...
and
Müller-ThurgauMüller-Thurgau is a variety of white grape which was created by Hermann Müller from the Swiss Canton of Thurgau in 1882. It is used to make white wine in Germany, Austria, Northern Italy, England, in Australia, Czech Republic, New Zealand and Japan...
are also grown to some extent.
Wine style
While Ahr primarily grew red wine before the current red wine trend in Germany, until the 1980s the wines were almost invariably very light-coloured, bordering on rosé, and often were significantly sweet. While this style of wine was perhaps rather unimpressive by international standards, Ahr could rely on its vicinity to the populous
Ruhr AreaThe Ruhr is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With 4435 km² and a population of some 5.3 million, it is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany...
to sell its small production to weekend tourists. In the 1980s, Werner Näkel of Weingut Meyer-Näkel started to experiment with extended
macerationMaceration may refer to:* Maceration , the softening or breaking into pieces with liquid* Maceration, in chemistry and herbalism, the preparation of an extract by soaking material in water, vegetable oil or some organic solvent...
and a significant influence of oak, which then was a style of red wine which hardly existed in Germany. After his wines won their first award in 1989, his style was followed by many other Ahr wineries as well as in other German regions. This style is now firmly established as the style of the best wines of the top Ahr producers: dry, fairly tannic and with a heavy oak influence. In comparison with Pinot Noir wines of
BurgundyBurgundy wine is wine made in the Burgundy region in eastern France. The most famous wines produced here - those commonly referred to as Burgundies - are red wines made from Pinot Noir grapes or white wines made from Chardonnay grapes. Red and white wines are also made from other grape varieties,...
, Ahr wines tend to have a paler red colour and being more oak-dominated.
The top red wines used to be classified as dry (
trocken)
AusleseAuslese is a German language wine term for a late harvest wine and is a riper category than Spätlese in the Prädikatswein category of the Austrian and German wine classification. The grapes are picked from selected very ripe bunches in the autumn , and have to be hand picked...
, but nowadays they are either called Grosses Gewächs or are classified as plain Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete and are sold under estate-specific wine names.
The best red wines of Ahr are quite expensive, and are routinely priced significantly higher than Germany's top dry Rieslings. Prices in excess of 50 euro are not uncommon for the top of the range at more well-known producers, although cheaper entry wines also are produced. Due to the limited production, and the current high demand for domestic red wines in Germany, Ahr wines are almost never seen on the export market.