Location and classification
Hämmchen is a legally registered single vineyard in the winegrowing region Mittelrhein, in the area of Gedeonseck and in the municipality and cadastral district of Brey. The official vineyard site number is 320308. The vineyard lies above Brey in a side valley on the left bank of the Rhine, about 1.5 kilometres from the Rhine.
Site and soil
The vineyard plots are at around 140 to 180 metres above sea level and are oriented south-south-east. The slope gradient is 30 to 50 percent, in places more than 50 percent. The site is locally classified as a steep site with a tendency towards very steep conditions. The soil consists mostly of Kieselgallenschiefer, a siliceous slate, which is similar to the soils of the sites Fässerley and Mandelstein in Bopparder Hamm. For the vineyard, annual rainfall of about 550 to 650 millimetres is given; the Rhine valley and its slate slopes, according to the vineyard association, provide relatively constant temperatures.
Vines and cultivation
On around one hectare of planted vineyard area, there are more than 5,000 Riesling vines in approximately 110 rows. The site is secured by an approximately 660-metre-long game-protection fence and is equipped with a wire system. The annual harvest quantity is limited to about 5,000 to 6,000 litres. The vineyard is managed as part of the documented environmental measure “Environmentally friendly steep and very steep vineyard viticulture”.
History and wines
The Breyer Hämmchen wine brotherhood was founded on 22 March 2005, after the last vineyard in Brey had been abandoned in the autumn of 2003. In 2005, around 1.6 hectares of overgrown land were cleared, levelled, prepared for planting and enclosed. The first documented grape harvest took place in 2007 and yielded 475 litres. The wines are described as mineral-fruity with fine acidity. From the 2025 vintage, around 4,500 litres of harvested material were processed into two Riesling late harvests; a documented dry wine shows 7.2 grams per litre residual sugar, 8.6 grams per litre acidity and 12.5% alcohol by volume. The grapes from the 2025 vintage were entrusted to the Matthias Müller winery in Spay for further wine production.
