Location and wine-growing area
Volxheim is a municipality in Rheinhessen and belongs to the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate. The municipality’s vineyards lie within the legally delimited protected designation of origin Rheinhessen. Together with the growing area, they form the Bingen area and the Großlage Rheingrafenstein.
Climate and soils
For the designation of origin Rheinhessen, a mean annual temperature of about 9.9 °C, a mean temperature during the growing season of 14.6 °C, around 550 mm of annual precipitation and about 650,000 Wh/m² of direct sunshine during the growing season are given. The sites of Volxheimer Liebfrau and Volxheimer Mönchberg are marl and respectively pelosol locations with calcareous clay deposits from the Tertiary period. Their deep, calcareous clay soils contain source clay, show limited water and air permeability, and have a high nutrient content.
Volxheim wine-growing sites
The Alte Römerstraße extends over Frei-Laubersheim and Volxheim and takes its name from the course of an adjacent old Roman road. In the 2024 vineyard area register, the Volxheim portions of the Alte Römerstraße comprised 73.0 ha, the Liebfrau 77.8 ha, and the Mönchberg 37.5 ha of planted vineyard area.
The Volxheim Liebfrau lies at about 160 to 200 m above sea level and is oriented south-south-east. The south-facing site is described as suitable for Pinot varieties because of its deep, strongly calcareous loam-clay soil. The Mönchberg lies at about 170 to 205 m above sea level and has a west to north-west orientation.
History and grape varieties
Volxheim is regarded as a Frankish foundation from the sixth century and was first mentioned in the Lorscher Codex in 781/82. The Mönchberg is documented in 1468 as “uff den monichsberg” and at that time belonged to the Augustinian monastery in Pfaffen-Schwabenheim. The name Liebfrau is associated with the former ownership of a Marian altar or a Liebfrauen monastery; historically, Volxheim belonged to Kurmainz.
The profile of the protected designation of origin Rheinhessen lists, among the most important white grape varieties, Riesling, white Pinot varieties, Müller-Thurgau and Silvaner, and for the red grape varieties Dornfelder and Spätburgunder. Around 70 percent of the vineyard area in the region is planted with white grape varieties. Wines with the protected designation Rheinhessen may be marketed as Qualitätswein, Prädikatswein, Sekt b.A. or Qualitätsperlwein b.A.
