It covers only 3 percent of Germany’s vineyards. But in its small corner of the Earth where the sun, a bend in the river and the Riesling grape come together, the glorious Rheingau produces most of Germany’s highest-quality wine. And in this month of May, as it has for a thousand years, it is once again awakening. Its vines have sprouted green leaves. Soon, clusters of small white blossoms will open. Between the rows of vines, wild flowers spread a rainbow of color. Later this month, in nearby villages, there will be an explosion of roses. It is spring in the Rheingau. And it begins 40 miles from Frankfurt.

Virtually all of the Rheingau lies along the Rhine River. After flowing north from Switzerland to Mainz, the Rhine turns sharply and runs west for some 25 miles before turning north again. The Rheingau lies within this 25-mile span with a narrow curtain on either side. From the river, the slopes rise steeply until, at the top, they meet the Taunus Hills. The high Taunus act as a barrier protecting the vineyards from northern storms while the Rheingau’s south-facing vineyards bask in the sun’s rays. Together, they set an ideal scene for the Riesling grape, which accounts for 80 percent of the Rheingau’s plantings.

Many of the Rheingau’s villages run along the Rhine’s edge; others dot the hills above. All of them hold long histories in their half-timbered houses and narrow, cobblestoned streets; Baroque churches; cozy restaurants and coffee houses; in ancient castles looking down from lofty cliffs and in their wineries and vineyards. Wine grapes cannot ripen much north of Germany. Its vineyards are Europe’s northern viticultural frontier. So bike it, hike it, ride it — by any means, experience it.

From the railroad station beneath the Frankfurt airport, it is a 30-minute train ride to Assmannshausen, a small village around the bend of the Rhine where the river again turns north. Compact and lovely and a road’s width from the river’s bank, it brims with history and features the 450-year-old country inn Krone Assmannshausen, which has one of the best restaurants in the Rheingau. Unlike most of the region, Assmannshausen produces more red than white wine, from the Pinot Noir grape, called Spätburgunder in Germany. But while Pinot Noir is the grape of all great Burgundies, don’t expect the depth and richness of a Chambertin, a Chambolle-Musigny, in the Rheingau. From such cool, northern vineyards the grape makes a pleasant, easy-drinking, relatively light wine.

Next to Assmannshausen, Rüdesheim, the furthest village along the river’s western flow, is one of the Rheingau’s most popular places. With its medieval buildings and cobbled streets, it is a major stop for cruise ships along the Rhine, about 10 docking each day April through October. Rüdesheim’s main thoroughfare is a narrow pedestrian street named Drosselgasse lined with wine bars and restaurants. Wine is everywhere in Rüdesheim, but beyond the water’s edge there are surprises. One is Siegfried’s Mechanical Music Cabinet Museum, where, during a tour, the guide winds up several of the museum’s 350 pieces — a 1920s mechanical cabinet that plays 19 instruments, including a 1910 phonograph sporting an enormous gold horn; and a 1909 Hupfeld Violina with a piano and six violins. The cabinets range from tiny snuff boxes with tweeting mechanical birds to those that cover an entire wall. It all started as Siegfried Wendel’s private collection which he turned into this private museum. He stopped by while I was visiting. “What a wonderful collection you’ve made,” I commented. “And I’m still collecting,” he said.

Rising precipitously from the village, the hills above Rüdesheim are among the steepest in the Rheingau. About 1,000 feet above the Rhine, there is the 19th-century, 132-foot-high Niederwald Monument to Germany’s unity. The intrepid traveler can reach it by foot path; most of us get there by cable car.

Virtually all wineries open to the public have a vinothek, a wine bar/wine shop where visitors can taste the winery’s output and, if they choose, buy a bottle or more.

Sister Veronica runs the vinothek at the Benedictine Abbey St. Hildegard, the order established by the 12th-century nun. The 52 nuns of the abbey produce wine from their 16 acres of grapes, and I wondered how they work in the vineyards in their traditional habits — black, to the ankle, with white guimpe and black coif. “We wear trousers in the vineyards,” Sister Veronica explained, “but only in the vineyards.”

If there is one winery that represents the high quality of the Rheingau, it is Schloss Johannisberg. Its setting is regal — a grand ocher-yellow palace that sits on the peak of a steep hill, overlooking its 80-acre sweep of vineyards below. It began as a Benedictine monastery in the 12th century and since the 1300s has changed ownership several times. The palace, built in the early 1700s by the prince-abbot of Fulda, was destroyed in World War II. Afterward, Prince von Metternich, the owner at the time, and his wife, Fürstin Tatiana, rebuilt it and restored the grounds. Most people didn’t know that while the palace looked complete from the outside, only one wing was finished and furnished on the inside. Rumor has it the unfinished wing was used as an indoor tennis court. The current owner is the Oetker family. No one lives there at present.

Schloss Johannisberg and vineyard © Richard Semik | Dreamstime.com

In 1720, Schloss Johannisberg was the first winery to plant its vineyards entirely in Riesling. In 1775, it made the first recorded Spätlese, a rich wine produced from late-harvest grapes. And deep in its cellars, in its Bibliotheca Subterranea, lies the oldest bottle of Schloss Johannisberg, from the 1748 vintage.

Schloss Johannisberg’s restaurant overlooks its vineyards. Its vinothek, in the estate’s former pressing house, offers its wines and those of G.H. von Mumm, which it also owns. Schloss Johannisberg wines are not low-priced and evidently never have been. Thomas Jefferson visited the Schloss in 1797 and, after tasting, pronounced them “the best in the Rheingau.” But wine lover though he was, he did not buy any. “I cannot,” he said. “They’re too expensive.”

Not far in distance or reputation is Schloss Vollrads, in the village of Winkel. The first documented sale of Schloss Vollrads wines was in the 1200s, and for centuries, until the death of Erwein Matuschka-Greiffenclau in 1997, it belonged to the Matuschka-Greiffenclau family. Today, with 200 acres, it is one of the largest estates in the Rheingau and considered one of the finest. It still has its 15th-century tower and 17th-century two-winged manor house. There is a vinothek in the former coachman’s house and, to the left upon entering the courtyard, the winery’s restaurant.

At the Allendorf Winery in Winkel, Ulrich Allendorf has set up his “aroma vineyard” in the vinothek — 19 glasses filled with flavors found in Rheingau wines. Sip a wine, smell the contents of a jar and notice how it can change the perception of the wine. The winery has a restaurant and a welcoming vinothek.

The village of Eltville is known for both its wine and roses. Its wines include Sekt, Germany’s sparkling wine. Its roses bloom on 22,000 bushes and in 350 varieties beginning mid- to late-May, and on the first weekend of June this year it will hold its annual Rose Days celebration.

The first written records of Eltville date back to 1058. In 1329, a wall was built around the town and within it a castle that became the residence of the Archbishop of Mainz until the later 1400s. Old Eltville is a collection of half-timbered 15th- and 16th-century buildings. The village is especially proud of its connection to Johannes Gutenberg. Born in Mainz about 1400, he grew up in Eltville and, after spending much of his adult life in Strasbourg, returned to Eltville, nearly blind and — despite inventing moveable type — deeply impoverished. The archbishop came to the rescue, making him a Hofmann, a “gentleman of the court,” which gave him a stipend and free grain and wine. He died in 1468.

Old arches at a Rheingau winery © Christian Mueringer | Dreamstime.com

Near Eltville, Eberbach Abbey is one of the Rheingau’s outstanding sites. It was founded by the Cistercians in 1136, a blend of Romanesque and early-Gothic architecture, and quickly became known for the high quality of its wines. It closed in 1803, and over the decades was used as a stable, reformatory and asylum until it was rescued in 1998 by becoming a publicly owned charitable foundation. It is now the largest wine estate in the Rheingau. Today, a tour takes in the many parts of the abbey; and if some seem familiar, it is because Eberbach was the setting for the interior scenes of the movie The Name of the Rose.

For the wine enthusiast, there is a path from Eberbach through the forest to its Steinberg vineyard, once the favorite of the monks. Back at the monastery, there is a vinothek on one side and, on the other, a restaurant and an inn for overnights.

In Hattenheim village, the Balthasar Ress winery — founded in 1870 and now run by Stefan Ress, the fourth generation, and Christian, the fifth — has a generouspouring vinothek. Among its programs is one of leasing vines and tagging each leased vine with the new owner’s name. A gift idea for a wine-loving friend?

The cellars of the Georg Müller Stiftung Estate in Hattenheim display modern paintings and sculpture among its bottles and barrels of wine. A tour (at a minimal cost) includes a visit to the art gallery/wine cellars and a tasting.

In Hochheim, the village at the far eastern end of the Rheingau, where the Main River meets the Rhine as it turns west, Dr. Franz Werner Michel is the seventh generation and his daughter Catharina is the eighth to run the Domdechant Werner estate. Begun in 1780 when the dean (Domdechant) of the Cathedral of Mainz acquired the estate, it has holdings in six single-vineyard sites. Visits and tastings are by appointment.

Reiner Flick’s family has been involved in wine since 1775, and one of the vineyards he rents has been associated with England’s Queen Victoria since 1845. She and Prince Albert visited that year, and after tasting one particular wine, she insisted on visiting its vineyard. Since then, the hill has been called Victoria Berg and is topped with a memorial to her. Because the British had a problem pronouncing Hochheim, they called wines of the village simply Hoch which, in turn, became their name for all Rheingau wines.

Combining wine and culture, Hochheim opened the region’s only wine museum three years ago. Its two-hour tours cover the cycle of the vine, the soils of the region and the history of vineyard work and winemaking.

The Rheingau has a host of festivals May to October. Since 1988, one of the largest has been its Music Festival that runs this year June 29–Aug. 31. About 60 percent is classical, the rest is jazz and concerts for children. Many of the music programs are held at Schloss Johannisberg, Schloss Vollrads and Eberbach Abbey.

There is also the Rheingau Wine Festival, held in mid-August in nearby Wiesbaden for more than 30 years. And virtually every village holds its own smaller wine celebrations. Even without formal festivals, during the height of the season most wine villages set up a small tasting booth where each week a different vintner of that village pours his wines, at no charge.

Discover the Rheingau on your own or, if time is short, travel with a certified guide. However one visits the Rheingau, there will be an echo of Ulrich Allendorf’s parting words: “Save water. Drink Riesling.”

Rheingau Info to Go

International flights arrive at Frankfurt Airport (FRA), about 35 miles from the Rheingau, which can be reached by train via the railroad station below the airport. Fare is $10–12 one way. I had knowledgeable and excellent help from two guides: Marion Schoenhherr of Viatour Expert Guides

Where to Stay in Rheingau

Hotel Krone Assmannshausen This 450-year-old estate exudes the sumptuous romance of the old amid modern comforts. Each of the 66 rooms is furnished with antiques. Ask for a room facing the Rhine. Rheinuferstrasse 10, Rüdesheim $$$

Hotel Lindenwirt The Lindenwirt offers 80 guestrooms; the unquenchable wine lover can book one of six large wine barrels in its courtyard, each featuring two single beds, a sitting room and a bathroom. Drosselgasse/ Amselstrasse 4, Rüdesheim $$

Schloss Reinhartshausen Kempinski Built in 1801 and bought by Marianne of Prussia in 1855, this 5-star still feels like a grand castle; 300 pieces of Marianne’s art collection decorate the 63 guestrooms. Hauptstrasse 41, Eltville-Erbach $$$$

Restaurants in Rheingau

Hotel Krone Assmannshausen Restaurant The hotel restaurant is elegant; the food, service and table settings are just as impressive. Enjoy seasonal specials: succulent lamb and asparagus in spring, chestnut cream soup and venison in fall. Rheinuferstrasse 10, Rüdesheim $$$

Im Weinegg Restaurant Along with seasonal cuisine, the Im Weinegg wine estate restaurant offers a Sunday brunch in which diners go into the kitchen and request a dish made to order. Kirchstrasse 38, Hochheim $$

Klosterschänke Friendly waitresses in local dress serve at this inviting, casual dining hall behind Eberbach Abbey. The name translates loosely to “a place to drink.” To that add “a place to eat regional specialties.” Eberbach Abbey, Eltville $