Location and municipality
Grafschaft is a municipality in the district of Ahrweiler in Rhineland-Palatinate. The administrative headquarters are located in the Ringen district. The municipality belongs to the Ahr region and covers an area of 57.61 square kilometres.
Climate and landscape
Grafschaft lies on the edge of the Ahr Eifel in the Rhenish Slate Mountains. The average air temperature is about 8.5 to 9 °C, the average annual precipitation around 620 millimetres. The further, flatter valley zone of the Ahr near Bad Neuenahr here transitions from the Ahr Eifel plateau to the Lower Rhine basin.
Geology and viticulture
In Ringen, a clay deposit is cited as an example of young sediments that have accumulated in areas sinking down and bounded by faults in the Lower Rhine basin. In the 2024 list of vineyards, for the Grafschaft share of the single vineyard Kirchtürmchen in the Karweiler cadastre, less than one hectare of planted vineyard area is specified. For the Klostergarten in the Ringen cadastre, it is 4.8 hectares, and for the Stiftsberg in the Ringen cadastre 7.1 hectares.
Name history and formation of the municipality
The name Grafschaft is derived from the historical County of Neuenahr. The Counts of Are had extensive landholdings and influence in the Ahr area since the 12th century. The present-day municipality was formed on 16 March 1974 as part of the Rhineland-Palatinate regional reform from the former Verbandsgemeinde Ringen and the surrounding municipalities.
