Rheingau for generations the most economically successful wine region in germany and still one of its most famous abroad. The Church and nobility provided the discipline and organization necessary for a solid business in wine, which survived the unrest and secularization in the early 19th century (see german history). The region had 3,166 ha/7,820 acres of vines in 2013, over 90% of which lie on the right bank of the rhine, between Wiesbaden and the mittelrhein boundary at Lorchhausen (see map under germany). The remainder of the Rheingau vineyards are near Hochheim (the origin of the word hock) on the banks of the Main, shortly before its confluence with the Rhine at Mainz.
