The northern vineyards on the western slopes of Germany’s Odenwald have formed one of Germany’s smallest wine regions since 1971. They comprised just 450 ha/1,111 acres in 2013, geologically diverse although dominated by loess, of which close to half in 2012 was planted with riesling, some capable of making distinguished dry wine, notably in Hambach’s Centgericht and Steinbach vineyards. The largest and most prestigious estate is the Hessische Staatsweingüter (known nowadays for their fabled headquarters as kloster eberbach) while a majority of the region’s growers deliver their crops to the co-op in Heppenheim known as Bergsträsser Winzer.
