Location on the Middle Moselle
Kinheim is a wine village on the Moselle. The village lies in a large bend of the Moselle between Traben-Trarbach and Bernkastel. Kinheim includes the localities of Kinheim-Kindel and Kinheim-Höhe. Kinheim-Kindel is on the right bank of the Moselle opposite Kinheim and is connected to the village by a bridge.
Vineyard sites and natural conditions
The vineyards are on steep slate slopes planted with vines. The documented sites include the Rosenberg and the Hubertuslay in Kinheim, as well as the Römerhang near Kinheim-Kindel. The Römerhang has moderately sloping slopes with a north to north-easterly aspect and can be managed more easily mechanically than the steep vineyards on the Moselle side of Kinheim.
The vineyards typical of the Moselle lie on slate slopes. The sheltered valley of the wine-growing region offers favourable conditions for warmth and rainfall; the slate stores the warmth of the day and releases it again at night.
Grape varieties
For the Kinheim Rosenberg, Riesling, Grauburgunder and Weißburgunder are documented. In the Hubertuslay, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc are grown, in the Römerhang Müller-Thurgau.
Roman and historical traces
Archaeological finds include the remains of a Roman villa dating from the 2nd or 3rd century, as well as a relief of the Gallic-Roman god Sucellus, which is associated with viticulture. For today’s sites Rosenberg and Hubertuslay, Roman vineyards and a winery building (press house) are assumed; at the foot of the Rosenberg, a Roman millstone for pressing (press stone) was found.
Ownership of vineyards by the Abbey of Echternach is documented in Kinheim as far back as 1148. An income directory from 1646 lists 23 Fuder of wine per year, and the Rosenberg site appears in a rental register of the abbey in 1658. In the vineyard site map for the Regierungsbezirk of Trier from 1868, the Kinheim Rosenberg vineyards were assigned to the highest category.
