Hattenheim Steinberg

Kloster Eberbach was founded in 1136, when the first 13 Cistercian monks arrived from Clairvaux. The Steinberg as an individual site goes back to those monks and was already listed in 1211 in the property register 'Oculus Memorie'. Eberbach Abbey has owned the Steinberg since 1239, when it was already considered the Cistercians' favourite vineyard, and its oldest parcel, the Zehntstück, was planted with vines before the monastery was founded in 1136. In the 18th century a wall was built around the entire Steinberg to protect it from grape thieves. Secularisation reached Eberbach in 1803, when the abbey passed to Friedrich August von Nassau-Usingen; after the Duchy of Nassau was annexed by Prussia following the war of 1866, a royal Prussian wine domain administration was set up, and in 1945 the monastery became property of the State of Hesse, administered by the Hessische Staatsweingüter. In 2003 the wine estate was transferred into the Hessische Staatsweingüter GmbH Kloster Eberbach, which keeps its seat at the abbey.

• Steinbergkeller: inaugurated in 2008 and awarded the Architekturpreis Wein (Wine Architecture Prize) in 2010; gravity alone moves grapes and must over three floors into the 14-metre-deep cellar
• The Steinbergkeller opened in summer 2008 several hundred metres from the old monastery; it can process up to 7,000 litres of grape juice a day, and its 5,000 square metres of cellars reach below the Steinberg, the oldest vineyard site in Eberbach
• The Hessian State Wineries administer six domains with 200 hectares of vineyards, five domains in the Rheingau and one on the Hessische Bergstraße; that figure covers the whole estate, not the Steinberg
• At a rarities tasting at Kloster Eberbach, an 1846 Steinberger bottled in the Duke of Nassau's Cabinets-Keller was opened, after which only two bottles of Steinberg remained in the treasure chamber

The Steinberg lies about 900 metres from Kloster Eberbach in the direction of Hattenheim. Its slope faces south, and three types of soil characterise it: Taunus slate in the upper part, quartzite in the middle, and loess loam at the foot. The Steinberg Zehntstück lies at 145 to 250 metres, with a gradient of 35 to 40 percent, a south-southwest aspect and sandy to clayey loam soils. The wall provides a special climate for the Riesling grapes growing on the slope; it was originally meant to protect against grape thieves but also against cold air from the nearby forest.

• Soils by slope position: Taunus slate in the upper part, quartzite in the middle, loess loam at the foot
• Goldener Becher: this plot lies in the upper part of the Steinberg
• Zehntstück: 145 to 250 metres, 35 to 40 percent gradient, south-southwest aspect, sandy to clayey loam
• Wall: three kilometres of quarry stones, up to five metres high

Riesling is the classified variety for both Steinberg parcels, and between Kloster Eberbach and Hattenheim everything revolves around it. Weingut Kloster Eberbach makes three tiers of wine from the site: its GOLDENER BECHER Steinberg Riesling GG (VDP.Grosse Lage) from the Goldener Becher plot in the upper Steinberg, its Steinberger Zehntstück Riesling VDP.Erste Lage from the Zehntstück, and VDP.Ortsweine from the remaining plots. The estate says the Steinberg's soils of Taunus slate, loess-loam and quartzite are sometimes decisive for the expressive character of the wine, and it describes the 2025 Steinberg Riesling trocken with white peach, pineapple, lime and honeysuckle and firm acidity. The estate's cabinet cellars, where wines are vinified and matured into dry and noble sweet top wines, are in its Assmannshausen and Steinberg domains.

• GOLDENER BECHER Steinberg Riesling GG: VDP.Grosse Lage, from the Goldener Becher plot in the upper Steinberg
• Steinberger Zehntstück Riesling: VDP.Erste Lage, from the Zehntstück, the Steinberg's oldest parcel
• Steinberg Riesling trocken: VDP.Ortswein from the remaining plots of the Steinberg
• Historic sweet wines: wein.plus described a 1973 Steinberger Eiswein Beerenauslese, opened among the rarities at Kloster Eberbach, with dark honey and antique-wood notes and fresh acidity

Weingut Kloster Eberbach says its Steinberg monopole classifies as a VDP.Grosse Lage. The VDP's vineyard database lists the Steinberg Goldener Becher parcel, Hattenheim, as a VDP.Grosse Lage with 0.62 hectares classified for Riesling, and the Steinberg Zehntstück as a VDP.Erste Lage with 3.59 hectares classified for Riesling, with Kloster Eberbach the VDP grower working each site. The Zehntstück is solely owned by the Hessische Staatsweingüter. Since 1971 Steinberg has been, under the wine law, an Ortsteil (district) of Hattenheim, so Hattenheim is not additionally named on the label. By the early 1990s Bernhard Breuer and Graf Matuschka were arguing for a vineyard classification that would let growers highlight top vineyard sites such as Steinberg and Erbacher Marcobrunn on their labels. The estate calls the Steinberg the oldest monopole site in the world.

• Estate position: Weingut Kloster Eberbach classifies its Steinberg monopole as a VDP.Grosse Lage
• Steinberg Goldener Becher: VDP.Grosse Lage, 0.62 hectares classified for Riesling
• Steinberg Zehntstück: VDP.Erste Lage, 3.59 hectares classified for Riesling
• Label: Hattenheim is not added because Steinberg has been an Ortsteil of Hattenheim under the wine law since 1971

Primary sources (Deutsches Weininstitut, the VDP and Weingut Kloster Eberbach's own site): https://www.winesofgermany.com/our-regions/highlight-of-wine-culture/156/kloster-eberbach, https://www.vdp.de/de/die-weine/weinbergonline/lage/7326-steinberg-zehntstueck, https://www.vdp.de/de/die-weine/weinbergonline/lage/7328-steinberg-goldener-becher, https://kloster-eberbach.de/de/wein/weingut/domaene-steinberg, https://kloster-eberbach.de/de/wein/weingut/geschichte-weingut, https://kloster-eberbach.de/en/wein/unsere-weine/unsere-weinberge, https://kloster-eberbach.de/en/wein/weingut/domaene-steinberg, https://kloster-eberbach.de/en/wein/weingut, https://kloster-eberbach.de/en/wein/unsere-weine. Secondary sources: https://www.decanter.com/features/rheingau-high-and-dry-248976/, https://magazine.wein.plus/rarities-tasting-at-eberbach-monastery-one-hundred-vintages-of-riesling-since-1846. Last verified 2026-10-05