Location and landscape
Hahnheim lies in Rheinhessen on the Selz. The municipality is surrounded by a gently hilly landscape with vineyards, fields and meadows. To the north-west of the town, the rounded Hahnheimer Knopf rises towards the Wahlheimer Hof, on whose vineyard slopes Hahnheim is located.
Viticulture and soils
The Hahnheim vineyard sites belong to the Nierstein area and the Großlage Gutes Domtal. The legally registered single sites include Knopf and Moosberg. The Hahnheimer Knopf is associated above all with Riesling; the vines grow there on calcareous clay marl, described as marl-pelosol formed from deposits of the Tertiary sea.
The Hahnheimer Moosberg covers 87 hectares, lies at an altitude of 140 to 210 metres, and faces south. Here, marl-pelosol and limestone rendzina occur. The vineyard areas are spread across the cadastral districts of Hahnheim and Sörgenloch.
Climate
The Rheinhessen wine-growing region has an average annual temperature of about 9.9 °C and an average temperature during the growing season of about 14.6 °C. Around 500 millimetres of precipitation fall each year; during the growing season, roughly 650,000 Wh/m² of direct solar radiation is reached.
History
Archaeological finds provide evidence of settlement in the Bronze and Iron Ages; a rediscovered well also indicates activities in Roman times. Hahnheim was mentioned in the Lorsch Codex on 12 June 764. From 1560, the place belonged to the lords of Dienheim, whose ownership and judicial authority lasted until the end of the 18th century. On the Hahnheimer Knopf, between 1906 and 1912, fortifications were built as part of the Mainz fortification ring; after the Second World War they were dismantled and covered with earth.
