Location and landscape
Offenau lies in the northern part of the Heilbronn district in Baden-Württemberg on the River Neckar, immediately below the Jagt stream’s confluence. The municipality extends across the Heilbronn–Wimpfen Neckar basin and the Krumme Ebene, which belongs to the Hohenlohe–Haller Ebene.
Relief and soils
The municipal area ranges from about 143 metres above sea level on the Neckar to around 230 metres in the east on the Krumme Ebene. The right bank slope of the Neckar rises gradually, while the Neckar floodplain is locally up to 800 metres wide. The subsoil consists mainly of alluvial loam, loess and lower Keuper formations, as well as small areas of Upper Muschelkalk.
Vine growing
On the municipality’s 565-hectare area, 3.2 hectares are accounted for as vineyard land. The land use plan identifies areas for vine growing and designates one of them as Schön. Offenau belongs to the wine-growing region Württemberg; for this wine-growing area, the Stuttgart Regional Council keeps the vineyard register.
History
Offenau was mentioned for the first time in the Lorsch Codex in 767 and became part of Württemberg as a municipality in 1805. In 1907, systematic vine cultivation began here at the Württemberg Institute for Vine Breeding and Vine Grafting; the breeding programme was later organisationally integrated into LVWO Weinsberg.
