Dernau

Dernau is a wine-growing village in the Ahr Valley. Here the Ahr describes a wide bend around the Krausberg, which is about 360 metres high, and then continues its course to the east. Vineyards are located both on the valley floors and on the steep slopes above the Ahr. The village includes the district of Marienthal, with the vineyard site Klostergarten.

The climate around Dernau is mild; the annual precipitation totals around 560 millimetres. The Eifel and the High Fens protect the area from rainfall; it belongs to the EU wine-growing zone A. South-facing rocks heat up quickly and then release the stored warmth gradually at night. The vineyard soils consist, among other things, of weathered slate, greywacke, slope loam, loess, terrace gravel, as well as sandy loess loam over Ahr gravel in the valley locations.

Spätburgunder is the dominant grape variety, supplemented by Frühburgunder, Portugieser, Regent, Acolon, Dornfelder, Riesling, Müller-Thurgau, Kerner, Weißburgunder and Grauburgunder. The Pfarrwingert site is classified as VDP.GROSSE LAGE®; Spätburgunder and Frühburgunder are documented there. The Burggarten also includes flat plots with mechanical cultivation, whereas the steep plots of the Goldkaul were replanted from 2001. In the Schieferlay, as a result of land consolidation, new paths and consolidated plots made it possible to use modern wire trellises.

Dernau was mentioned for the first time in 893 in the Prümer Urbar; it records ownership of a vineyard with an annual production of three Fuder of wine. The Dernau winemakers’ association was formed in 1873, the wine-growing association in 1881. Both came together in 1970 to form the Dernau wine co-operative. The Augustinian nuns’ monastery of Marienthal was founded in 1136, secularised in 1802 and developed into a state winery in the 20th century. Since 2004 it has belonged to the Kloster Marienthal consortium, which uses the historical monastery cellar for the ageing and production of wine.