Location and landscape
Bad Kreuznach lies in the Nahe valley in the Kreuznach Basin, an extension of the Upper Rhine Plain between the hills of Rheinhessen, the Hunsrück and the North Palatinate Uplands. The landscape includes the lower Nahe hills and the Inner Kreuznach loess hills with ridges between asymmetrical valleys that converge towards the Nahe.
Climate and soils
The local climate is mild. The average temperature is 10.8 °C, the average annual precipitation 590.2 millimetres; for the Nahe valley, above-average annual temperatures and comparatively few days of rain are given. On the traditional vineyard slopes there is flat red sandstone from the Kreuznach geological formations. South- and south-west-facing slopes are steep, while flatter east- and north-east-facing slopes are covered by deep loess loams.
Viticulture in Bad Kreuznach
In the Nahe, wine has been grown since antiquity; according to the city’s records, the Romans introduced viticulture in the region. In Bad Kreuznach, winegrowing developed from the middle of the 19th century onwards into a major economic sector. The city area includes the largest areas of vineyards along the Nahe.
Grape varieties and wine style
The red-sandstone sites are paired with Rieslings, which are fruit-forward and show a pronounced fruit acidity. In the lower Nahe region, Pinot noir varieties and red varieties that place higher demands on weather also thrive, with high must weights and moderate acidity. Among the most important grape varieties of the Nahe are, for the white wines, Riesling, Müller-Thurgau and Pinot gris, and, for the red wines, Dornfelder, Pinot noir, Regent and Portugieser.
