Winery Bischel

Red pigments in the soil for top Rieslings

The people who gave the name to this single vineyard site chose something that takes some getting used to: in the case of the childhood disease scarlet fever, the tongue turns red. The single vineyard Scharlachberg consists of "Quarzit Rigosol", a strongly consolidated sandstone with a high iron oxide content. The iron discolours the soil orange-red or scarlet. The vineyard was first mentioned in a document in 1248 with the name "vocatur scarlachen". It extends above the Bingen district of Büdesheim. Rieslings with great ripening potential come from here.

• Rheinhessen-Blog

Carbonate, Rich, Gold: Riesling from Hundertgulden 

It is Germany's most carbonate-rich vineyard. The lime- and salt-rich soil "Terra Fusca" was formed over 50 million years ago and was once a coral reef in the primordial sea. Today, it is mainly Rieslings that grow there, producing elegant wines with fine fruit aromas. Easily digestible top wines with a unique minerality. Carbones are salts. The current site name "Hundertgulden" probably dates back to the 14th century: At that time, the vineyard by the Westerberg changed hands several times. The new owners paid large sums in gold florins from the river Rhein. This vineyard is a real gold treasure!

• To the further single vineyard site of Appenheim: Eselspfad 
• Discover the single vineyard site via Hiwweltour Bismarckturm 
• To the other single vineyard sites at Westerberg: Ingelheimer Schloss Westerhaus

Oh holy Laurentius, give us filigree Rieslings

This single vineyard is located directly below the St. Laurenzi Chapel between the villages of Appenheim, Dromersheim or Ockenheim. At the top of the hill is the small village of Laurenziberg and the nationally important pilgrimage church of St. Laurentius, named after a saint. The baroque church was built between 1707 and 1717, on the foundations of an Iro-Scottish chapel from the late 6th or early 7th century. The vines grow on a limestone base, overlaid with clay marl and clayey loess loam. Filigree and acid-accentuated Rieslings are produced here.

> Info on the Laurenziberg site and chapel: https://www.regionalgeschichte.net/rheinhessen/laurenziberg.html

Scratchy winegrowers, running armies, wonderful wines 

There are soils that are easy to work, for example loess. And then there are soils that challenge the winegrower. In this very high single vineyard, the soil has to be literally scratched, hence the name "Kretz". Responsible for this: the hard and rugged rhyolite rock or porphyry (a light-coloured, magmatic rock of the Rotliegende) with scree slopes and quarries. This particular soil is very rare in Rheinhessen (one percent). Very famous top Rieslings and Pinot Noirs thrive here. The "Alte Heerstraße" (Old Army Road) runs along the foot of the mountain, hence the double name "Heerkretz". Hikers travel along the "Küstenweg Rheinhessen" (Rheinhessen Coastal Trail) into the earth-historical past of Rheinhessen and pass numerous highlights, for example the Ajax Tower, and rest at the Lavendeleck.

> Info about the coastal path: https://www.rheinhessen.de/kuestenwege-rheinhessen/kuestenweg-rheinhessen-rundweg-siefersheim-woellstein-neu-bamberg 
> Info on the Ajax Tower: https://www.rheinhessen.de/a-ajax-turm 
> Hiking trails and refreshments: https://www.siefersheim.de/tourismus/wanderwege/ 
> To the other sites of Siefersheim: Goldenes Horn and Höllberg