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25-895: Rhine Hesse stretches from the Upper Rhine Plain on the west bank of the Rhine up to the Nahe and Alsenz rivers in the west and down to the mouth of the Isenach in the south. The region borders on the Rhineland in the northwest, on the Palatinate in the southwest, and on South Hesse beyond the Rhine. The Rhenish-Hessian Hills along the Selz river, also called the "land of the thousand hills", reach up to 358 m (1,175 ft) at

50-463: A large number of specialities, with Weck, Worscht un Woi , not least through the Mainz carnival , has achieved supra-regional fame. Rhine Hesse is the largest of 13 regions producing German wine . Outside Germany, it is best known as the home of Liebfraumilch . Most is made from white varieties such as Riesling , Silvaner , Müller-Thurgau , Kerner , and Scheurebe . The best-known white wine area

75-749: A response to the evolution of the Alps to the south. It remains active to the present day. Today, the Rhine Rift Valley forms a downfaulted trough through which the river Rhine flows. The Upper Rhine Plain was formed during the Early Cenozoic era, during the Late Eocene epoch. At this time, the Alpine Orogeny , the major mountain building event that was to produce the Alps , was in its early stages. The Alps were formed because

100-594: Is a major rift , about 350-kilometre-long (220 mi) and on average 50-kilometre-wide (31 mi), between Basel in the south and the cities of Frankfurt / Wiesbaden in the north. Its southern section straddles the France–Germany border . It forms part of the European Cenozoic Rift System , which extends across Central Europe . The Upper Rhine Graben formed during the Oligocene , as

125-470: Is classified roughly into ten categories: Tafelwein (dining wine), Landwein , QbA (as mentioned above), followed by QbP (with predicate), followed by Kabinett , Spätlese (late harvest), Auslese (special selection), Beerenauslese (lit. berry selection), and Trockenbeerenauslese (dry berry selection). Somewhat apart sits the Eiswein (ice wine), which is generally understood to be at least on par with

150-792: Is estimated to be ~2. To both the east and west of the Rhine Plain, two major hill ranges have formed that run the length of the basin. To the west, in France, these hills are known as the Vosges mountain range and in the east, in Germany, the hills comprise the Black Forest . These ranges exhume the same types of rocks in their cores, including deep crustal gneiss . Both ranges correspond to uplifts of more than 2,500 metres, much of which has since been eroded. This uplift has occurred because of

175-532: Is more common on labels of exported wine. The generic label Liebfraumilch is typically used to market vintages from anywhere in most of the major wine growing areas of Germany, the notable exception being Mosel . Wine with very similar characteristics but made from higher quality grapes can be labeled as Spätlese or Auslese . In the US and the UK, perhaps the best known example has been Blue Nun , which no longer uses

200-570: Is practised on a large scale. The region comprises the cities of Mainz – the Rhineland-Palatinate capital – and Worms , surrounded by the administrative districts of Mainz-Bingen and Alzey-Worms . Other towns include Bingen , Alzey , Nieder-Olm , Ingelheim , Nierstein , Oppenheim , and Osthofen . Many inhabitants commute to work in Mainz or Wiesbaden and Frankfurt in the neighbouring state of Hesse . The importance of

225-589: Is the Rhine Terrace near Oppenheim and Nierstein . Some red varieties are grown, particularly around Ingelheim and Gundersheim , including Pinot noir , Blauer Portugieser , Dornfelder , and the recently established Regent . Upper Rhine Plain The Upper Rhine Plain , Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben ( German : Oberrheinische Tiefebene , Oberrheinisches Tiefland or Oberrheingraben , French : Vallée du Rhin )

250-694: The Liebfraumilch designation. The term Liebfraumilch is associated with low quality wine , and, consequently, the German wine classification requires it only to be at the Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete (QbA) level—the third rank out of ten. However, it must also be from Rheinhessen, Pfalz, Nahe, or Rheingau, and the grapes must be at least 70% Riesling , Silvaner , or Müller-Thurgau , and it must have 18–40 grams per litre (0.00065–0.00145 lb/cu in) residual sugar . German wine

275-479: The Beerenauslese , but helped with both Botryitis (as is the Beerenauslese ) in conjunction with natural cryo extraction (icewine grapes have to be processed at -7 °C). Overall, these quality levels are following extract per litre measures (density levels) as these are indicative of sugar levels. Blue Nun, as a result, sits at level 1 out of 8 and, despite its international success, is rarely considered in

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300-585: The Palatinate Forest on the western and the Odenwald on the eastern side. The extension induced by the formation of the Alps was sufficient to thin the crust and provide suitable dilational conduits for magmatic and volcanic activity to occur. This resulted in the emplacement of mafic dykes , which follow the general structural trend of the extensional faults. In addition, isolated volcanoes such as

325-641: The Virgin Mary ) is a style of semi-sweet white German wine which may be produced, mostly for export, in the regions Rheinhessen , Palatinate , Rheingau , and Nahe . The original German spelling of the word is Liebfrauenmilch , given to the wine produced from the vineyards of the Liebfrauenkirche or "Church of Our Lady" in the Rhineland-Palatinate city of Worms since the eighteenth century. The spelling Liebfraumilch

350-715: The Kaiserstuhl were formed. The Kaiserstuhl (literally "Emperor's Chair") is a cluster of volcanic hills to the northwest of Freiburg, within the Rhine Graben. The highest point of this small, isolated volcanic centre is the Totenkopf (557 metres). Volcanic activity was most prevalent in the Miocene epoch, some 15 million years ago. Today, the Kaiserstuhl volcano is extinct. In 1356, the Basel earthquake occurred in

375-839: The Rhine Hessian lands increased when they were allotted to King Louis the German by the 843 Treaty of Verdun . The region was part of the core territory of Rhenish Franconia . It comprised the Imperial Cathedrals of Worms and Mainz which were erected in the High Middle Ages . The Worms Synagogue and the Jewish Cemetery count among the oldest in Europe. Devastated by the Thirty Years' War ,

400-579: The Rhine Plain. It was perhaps the most destructive earthquake ever in northwest Europe , destroying the city of Basel and flattening buildings as far as 200 km away. It was the most significant historic seismological event to have occurred in Central Europe. Its epicenter was between Waldkirch and St. Peter in Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald . However, it remains disputed whether the fault that ruptured to cause this earthquake

425-894: The area became a patchwork of possessions of the Catholic Electorate of Mainz and the Prince-Bishopric of Worms as well as of the Protestant Electoral Palatinate . Rhine Hesse was occupied by the First French Republic in 1792, during the War of the First Coalition . At the Congress of Vienna in 1814–15, Grand Duke Louis I of Hesse was obliged to give up his Westphalian territories. In compensation, he received

450-410: The continents of Europe and Africa collided. It is thought that because the collision was irregular , the initial contact between the two continents resulted in the formation of dilational (extensional) structures in the foreland basin to the north of the Alps. The result was substantial crustal thinning, forming a major extensional graben and causing isolated volcanic activity. The stretch factor

475-549: The district on the left bank of the Rhine. Because of this addition, he amended his title to Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and the name of the region was created. In Allied-occupied Germany , the Rhine Hessian lands were incorporated as a district into the newly established state of Rhineland-Palatinate in 1946. Each region has developed its own cuisine dependent on geography, climate, soils, seasons and wealth. These vary from plain home cooking with simple dishes to culinary specialities for festive occasions. Rhine Hesse also has

500-467: The domestic market. When a rack of wine topples over in the 1932 Hollywood film Downstairs , the wine cellar caretaker Otto ( Otto Hoffman ) laments a broken bottle of Liebfrauenmilch , very likely to be a subtle joke. In the book Desert Solitaire , by Edward Abbey , the author stops at a liquor store to purchase a bottle of liebfraumilch on his way to Mount Tukuhnikivatz . In the episode of Only Fools and Horses , "Dates", Del Boy mentions to

525-409: The isostatic response associated with the formation of an extensional basin. As a consequence, the highest mountains exist immediately adjacent to the margin of the basin, and become increasingly low outwards. The boundaries between the hill ranges and the Rhine Graben are defined by major, normal fault zones. The northern section of the Rhine Plain is equally framed by somewhat lower mountain ranges,

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550-494: The matchmaker that he would like a "refined" woman that can tell the difference between "Liebfraumilch and a can of Tizer ". “…Soon she did return with a bottle of liebframilch…” in the song lyrics of "Spill the Wine" by Eric Burdon and War (live video version, 1970. Note that various words throughout the live video version song differ from the original recorded version). In the book Confessions of Felix Krull by Thomas Mann ,

575-657: The summit of the Kappelberg and about 330 m (1,080 ft) in Rhenish-Hessian Switzerland . The Mainz Basin , a Cenozoic marine basin , covered the area about 38 to 12 million years ago. The landscape is characterised by large Loess and Marl deposits. Due to the favourable climatic conditions of Rhenish Hesse, agriculture covers most of the region. As the Hunsrück and Taunus ranges protect it from cold winds, wine and fruit production

600-643: The water used by industry. Since the 1970s it has suffered increasingly serious pollution from nitrates , pesticides , chloride and VOCs . A collaboration of 25 universities and government agencies have been researching seismic hazards, neotectonics, and water management of the Quaternary Graben fill. The research focuses on four themes: 48°57′54″N 8°14′02″E  /  48.9650°N 8.2340°E  / 48.9650; 8.2340 Liebfraumilch Liebfraumilch or Liebfrauenmilch (German for 'Our Lady's Milk', in reference to

625-768: Was part of the Rhine Valley extensional system, or simply one of the many thrust faults that make up the Alps to the south. Doubts have been raised over the adequacy of the seismic evaluation and design of the Fessenheim Nuclear Power Plant , built in the Rhine Plain close to the faults. Located below the plain, the Upper Rhine aquifer – one of the largest in Europe – holds an estimated 45,000 km (11,000 cu mi) of fresh water and supplies some 3 million people in France and Germany, supplying 75% of their drinking water and 50% of

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