The Mittelrhein Valley is one of the 13 German wine regions. It is a breathtaking region, where excellent wines are produced.
We took a boat trip from Rüdesheim (in the Rheingau) to Bad Salzig (in the Mittelrhein region), where our bus was waiting for us to take us to Zell in the Mosel region. We did not stop at any Mittelrhein winery and did not taste any Mittelrhein wine. But we had a fantastic boat trip.
Next year on the tour, we will stop in Bacherach, stay overnight there and enjoy a tasting with Cecilia Jost, Weingut Toni Jost.
Lunch at Restaurant Breuer’s Rüdesheimer Schloss in Rüdesheim, Rheingau
Before boarding the boat, we had lunch at Restaurant Breuer’s Rüdesheimer Schloss in Rüdesheim, which belongs to the world class winemaker Weingut Breuer.
Weingut Breuer was founded in 1880, and developed into an 80 acre estate with top vineyards in Rauenthal and Rüdesheim. Today, daughter Theresa owns the estate. She is a very talented winemaker. Year after year, she produces wines of the highest quality without jeopardizing her own distinctive style, noticeable in every bottle.
In the middle of the hustle and bustle of Rüdesheim, the Breuer’s Rüdesheimer Schloss is an oasis of very good traditional German food and elegant Rieslings from the Breuer winery.
Boat Trip on on the Rhine River
Time to indulge in the breathtakingly beautiful view of the Rhine River and its banks dotted with castles, forts, and ruins dating from the middle ages, passing the famous Loreley Rock and the slopes of the Mittelrhein wine region.
Beginning just below Bonn and extending about 100 km south along the banks of the Rhine, the Mittelrhein is a beautiful region of steep, terraced vineyards and some of the wine world's most splendid scenery, medieval castles and ruins clinging to rocky peaks, sites of ancient legends where Siegfried, Hagen and the Loreley seem to spring to life.
Nearly three quarters of the vineyards are planted with Riesling. Viticulture was established in the region by the Romans, once they had established the cities of Cologne (Colonia) and Bonn (Bonna). The region saw its heyday in medieval times, at a time when the Cistercian order built the Kloster Heisterbach abbey above Oberdollendorf. The small town of Bacharach is an ancient centre of the wine trade. The name of the town of Bacharach comes from the Roman "Baccara" = "Altar of Bacchus".
The Mittlerhein below St. Goarshausen is one of the few vineyards in the world where phylloxera has not yet struck. Small, family-run wineries are typical of the region. But winemaking in the Mittelrhein is shrinking at a rapid pace. Today, with 500 hectares vineyard area, it is less than 25% of what it was 100 years ago. The slopes are extremely steep, discouraging young winemakers to continue with the tradition of their fathers, while consumers are flooded with reasonably priced and good quality wines from all over the world. However, increasingly young and dynamic winemakers, such as Cecilia Jost, are successfully trying to reverse this trend.
schiller-wine: Related Postings
4 Wine Tours by ombiasy coming up in 2015: Germany-East, Germany-South. Germany-Nord and Bordeaux
Coming-up: Wine & Art Tour to Saale-Unstrut - Saxony - Franken - Württemberg: Germany-East Tour by ombiasy WineTours (June 11 - June 20, 2015)
Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy, 2014
Germany-South Wine Tour by ombiasy, 2014
Weingut Pawis (Saale Unstrut): Estate Tour and Wine Tasting with Kerstin Pawis– Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy (2014)
Weingut Kloster Pforta: Vineyard Tour, Cellar Tour and Tasting with Managing Director Christian Kloss – Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy (2014)
Winzerhof Gussek in the Saale Unstrut Region: Cellar Tour, Vineyard Tour and Tasting with Owner and Winemaker André Gussek – Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy (2014)
Tour and Tasting at the Historic Weingut Juliusspital in Würzburg, Franken– Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy (2014)
Weingut Bickel-Stumpf in Franken: Vineyard Walk and Wine Tasting with Reimund Stumpf, Matthias Stumpf and Melanie Stumpf-Kröger - Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy (2014)
Kiedrich: Visit of the Basilica of Saint Valentine and of Weingut Robert Weil - Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy (2014)
Kloster Eberbach in the Rheingau: Tour and Wine Tasting - Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy (2014)
Wining in the Steinberg Vineyard– Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy (2014)
Visit: Winzerhof Thörle in Saulheim, Rheinhessen – Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy (2014)
Wine Tasting at Weingut Kühling-Gillot in Bodenheim: Kühling-Gillot and Battenfeld-Spanier Wines– Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy (2014)
Vineyard Walk, Cellar Tour and Wine Tasting at Weingut Künstler– Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy (2014)
One of the Bio-dynamic Stars in Germany: Weingut Peter Jakob Kühn in Östrich, Winkel– Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy (2014)