Location and landscape
Oberheimbach is a local municipality in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate and belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Rhein-Nahe. The settlement lies in the valley of the Heimbach, a left-bank tributary of the Rhine, within the Upper Middle Rhine Valley and the Bacharach Valley. The village is at an altitude of about 140 metres.
Winegrowing on the Middle Rhine
Oberheimbach is a traditional and important winegrowing village on the Middle Rhine. Winegrowing formed an economic basis for the village already at an early stage. The single vineyards Klosterberg, Römerberg, Sonne and Wahrheit belong to the large vineyard area of Burg Reichenstein.
Climate and soils
For the winegrowing region of the Middle Rhine, a mean annual temperature of 9.7 °C, a mean temperature during the growing season of 14.2 °C and an annual rainfall of 665 millimetres are given. Around 60 percent of the rainfall falls during the growing season. In the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, the vineyards are predominantly oriented from south-east to south-west. Devonian rocks, quartzitic sandstone and slate shape the subsoil; in the valley vineyards, brown earths and regosols from Devonian slate predominate.
Historical development
Heimbach was mentioned in a document on 14 June 983, while Oberheimbach was first distinguished in 1050 as a separate settlement. A document from 1603 shows that Heimbach wine was served at festive occasions in the Mainz cathedral foundation. In 1794, Oberheimbach came under French administration; in 1815, the town became part of Prussia following the Congress of Vienna.
