Ahr

The Ahr wine-growing region is located in the federal state of Rheinland-Pfalz in Germany, and has a total vineyard area of 519 hectares. Viticulture in this area goes back to Roman times. It is named after a westerly tributary of the Rhine river. The source of the Ahr is in the Eifel region, and it flows into the Rhine south of Bonn.

The vineyards are located on the steep south-facing slopes along the middle and lower course of the deep river valley, over a distance of around 25 kilometres. In the upper region, between Altenahr and Marienthal, decomposed slate soils predominate in the narrow section of the valley, with vineyards stretching down almost to the river. In the lower reaches of the Ahr, between Walporzheim and Heimersheim, the soils are mainly loess and clay with decomposed rock in places. In the steep terraced vineyards, the soils, rocks and vineyard retaining walls of slate and grey wacke store the heat of the sun, reflecting it back to the vines at night, thus creating a mild, Mediterranean climate with relatively high temperatures.

The Ahr has only one sub-region (Bereich), Walporzheim-Ahrtal, which consists of the regional site Klosterberg with a total of 43 single vineyard sites. Well-known sites (with the commune) include Daubhaus, Forstberg, Riegelfeld, Rosenthal, Silberberg and Ursulinengarten (Ahrweiler; Altenahrer Eck and Übigberg (Altenahr); Karlskopf and Steinkaul (Bachem); Kirchtürmchen, Schieferlay and Sonnenberg (Bad Neuenahr); Burggarten, Goldkaul, Hardtberg, Pfarrwingert and Schieferlay (Dernau); Burggarten (Heppingen-Heimersheim; Rosenberg and Trotzenberg (Marienthal); Laacher Berg and Mönchberg (Mayschoss); Herrenberg (Rech; as well as Gärkammer, Kräuterberg and Himmelchen (Walporzheim). One of the first, and today the oldest, wine co-operatives in the world was founded in Mayschoß in 1868. Well-known producers include Adeneuer, Ahr Winzer eG, Burggarten, Deutzerhof, Jean Stodden, Kreuzberg, Kriechel Peter, Maibachfarm, Meyer-Näkel, Nelles, Riske Erwin, Riske Reinhold, Sermann-Kreuzberg, Sonnenberg estate and Walporzheim co-operative.

Although the Ahr region is the most northerly wine-growing region in Germany, predominantly red varieties (85%) are planted here. Pinot Noir dominates, with around 60% of the vineyard area. This predominance of reds is underlined by the presence of the Ahr red wine route („Ahr-Rotweinstraße“) as well as the parallel red wine hiking trail („Rotwein-Wanderweg“). Previous German chancellor Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) sourced his red wines from some of the estates in this region. A series of events takes place annually under the title of „Gourmet & Wein“, this sees the best restaurateurs of the region working together with the leading winemakers, presenting culinary delights within a context of art and culture.

The spread of grape varieties (as per 2001):
Variety Synonyms Colour Hectares %-share
Pinot Noir Spätburgunder Red 306 59,0
Blauer Portugieser Portugieser Red 66 12,8
Riesling Weißer Riesling White 41 7,8
Frühburgunder Augustclevner, Clevner,
Pinot Madeleine, etc. Red 26 5,1
Müller-Thurgau Rivaner White 23 4,4
Dornfelder - Red 23 4,4
Domina - Red 8 1,6
Regent - Red 6 1,2
Kerner - White 4 0,8
Dunkelfelder - Red 3 0,6
Pinot Gris Ruländer, Grauburgunder White 2 0,4
Rotberger - Red 1 0,2
Ortega - White 1 0,2
Pinot Blanc Weißburgunder White 1 0,2
White varieties 75 14,5
Red varieties 444 85,5
TOTAL 519 100