Winery Sternenfelserhof

Tool, hill, goat? Nowadays a premium vineyard

The name of the vineyard is documented in a deed from 1753, as the vineyard property of various Nierstein vineyards. The origin of the name has not been definitively clarified. It could have come from Middle High German and once meant "hügell" (hill). Or it goes back to "Hippe", which means tool - or another version - goat. Did bleating goats once jump over the hill here? Who knows. Today, no goats bleat there any more - and the winegrowers have nothing to complain about either. This single vineyard site is of special value. World-class Rieslings thrive on the special red claystone called Rotliegenden. The "Alexander-von-Humboldt-Blick" is a viewing point located in the middle of the single vineyard site. In 1790, the naturalists Georg Forster and Alexander von Humboldt travelled by carriage from Mainz to Nierstein and reported on the red rock and the noble wine.

> Hike and audio to the Hipping station: https://roter-hang.de/weinerlebnis/hipping/ 
> Info about the Alexander-von-Humboldt view: https://rhein-selz-tourismus.de/rhein-selz-entdecken/die-entdeckung-des-tages/alexander-von-humboldt-blick.html 
> Discover the single vineyard by bike: https://www.rheinhessen.de/amiche-radweg 

Biblical reference, oil mill or oily Rieslings?

Is the single vineyard named “Ölberg” because an oil mill once stood here? Or did the Ölberg get its name because of the oily consistency of the wines produced here? Does the site maybe have biblical references, named after a monastery? Anything is possible. The single vineyard is part of the "Roter Hang" but turns away from the river Rhein and faces south-southeast, situated above Nierstein. Partly very steep with a gradient of up to 60 percent. Like it is tpical for Roter Hang, the soil here is Rotliegendes, the iron oxide-containing, and landscape-defining red shining clay slate. The dominant grape variety is Riesling. In the middle of the vineyard: the Wartturm, a Nierstein landmark. Once a medieval signal tower from the 12th century.

> Discover the single vineyard by bike: https://www.rheinhessen.de/amiche-radweg

> Info about the Nierstein Wartturm: https://www.rheinhessen.de/a-wartturm-von-nierstein
> Wine events, winemakers and more: https://roter-hang.de/