Hesse
Hesse’s food and wine festivals: the Rheingau Wine Week in Wiesbaden, ten days in August with over 100 wine booths around the Marktkirche.
At a glance
- Home of the Rheingau Wine Week in Wiesbaden, 13 to 22 August 2027
- The Rheingau, Riesling country, lies on the Rhine west of Wiesbaden
- Wiesbaden is the state capital, Frankfurt am Main its largest city
- Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s largest, is the gateway to the region
- 1food festival
Food festivals in Hesse
Zahnradzacken, CC BY-SA
Cities and towns in Hesse
Berthold Werner, CC BY-SAMap of Hesse
What to taste in Hesse
Rheingau Riesling
The white grape of the Rheingau. The Wiesbaden tourist office calls the Wine Week “the world’s largest Riesling tasting”.
Sekt (sparkling wine)
German sparkling wine, poured beside the still wines at the Rheingau booths.
Apfelwein (cider)
The tart apple wine of Frankfurt, served in its taverns in a ribbed glass.
Grüne Soße (green sauce)
A cold herb sauce of Frankfurt, served with boiled eggs and potatoes.
Handkäs mit Musik
A small sour-milk cheese marinated with onions, a classic of the Hessian apple-wine taverns.
Hesse’s capital holds a ten-day wine festival each August: the Rheingau Wine Week, which the city of Wiesbaden calls “the longest wine bar in the world”. The state lies in the west of central Germany, around Frankfurt am Main and the Rhine.
Hesse: two cities, two drinks
| City | Drink | Where to try it |
|---|---|---|
| Wiesbaden | Rheingau Riesling and Sekt | Wine Week booths, August |
| Frankfurt am Main | Apfelwein | Apple-wine taverns |
Apfelwein, “Ebbelwoi” in the local dialect, is Frankfurt’s cider, poured from a stoneware jug called a Bembel.
The Rheingau
The Rheingau is the stretch of the Rhine’s right bank between Wiesbaden and Lorch, where the river runs east to west and the vineyards face south.
- The grape: Riesling, the variety that made the region’s name.
- In town: the Wine Week brings the Rheingau’s winemakers to the squares of Wiesbaden for ten days each August.
- On foot: 14 Riesling Schleifen, waymarked loops of 4 to 8 kilometres through the vineyards, run from Flörsheim am Main to Lorch am Rhein, says the Rheingau tourist board.
- Kloster Eberbach: probably the best-preserved medieval site in Hesse, says the monastery, which has its own winery and a wine shop and wine bar open daily from 10 am to 7 pm (October 2026).
Frankfurt’s apple-wine quarter
- Sachsenhausen: the district on the south bank of the Main where the apple-wine taverns cluster.
- What to order: a Bembel of Apfelwein, with Handkäs mit Musik or Grüne Soße.
Craft apple wine culture joined Germany’s nationwide inventory of intangible cultural heritage on 9 March 2022, announced the Kultusministerkonferenz.
Frankfurt’s tourist board organises an Apfelweinfest on the Roßmarkt, in the city centre: from 7 to 16 August in 2026, with eleven cider houses (Keltereien) pouring their apple wine. Each year after the festival the Keltereien open the apple harvest, and from early September to the end of October owners of meadow orchards bring their apples in.
Wine festivals of the Hessische Bergstraße
Hesse also has the Hessische Bergstraße wine region, on the slopes of the Odenwald, where the Romans planted the first vines some 2,000 years ago, says the Weinbauverband Hessische Bergstraße.
| Festival | Town | When |
|---|---|---|
| Weinlagenwanderung | Vineyards between Heppenheim and Zwingenberg | 1 May |
| Zwingenberger Weinfest | Zwingenberg | Pentecost, Friday to Monday |
| Bergsträßer Weinmarkt | Heppenheim | Ten days from the last weekend of June |
| Bergsträßer Winzerfest | Bensheim | Nine days from the first week of September |
| Groß-Umstädter Winzerfest | Groß-Umstadt | The weekend around 15 September |
Before you go
- When: August for the Rheingau Wine Week, 13 to 22 August 2027 and 11 to 20 August 2028.
- Getting there: Frankfurt Airport serves both Frankfurt and Wiesbaden.
- Beds: the Wiesbaden tourist office sells a Wine Week hotel package from 66.50 euros.
- Alcohol: in Germany, wine can be bought from age 16.
Frequently asked questions
When is the Rheingau Wine Week 2027?
From 13 to 22 August 2027, in the centre of Wiesbaden. The city has already published 11 to 20 August 2028.
What is the capital of Hesse?
Wiesbaden, the state capital. Frankfurt am Main is the largest city.
What wine is the Rheingau known for?
Riesling. The Wiesbaden tourist office presents the Wine Week as the world’s largest Riesling tasting.