The Heise winery extends to you the warmest of welcomes.
The HEISE AM KRANZBERG winery, located at the foot of the Roter Hang (Red Slope), sets itself apart with its diverse and attractive assortment of wines, offering something for connoisseurs and gourmets alike. Our winery, which is a relatively young, family-run business, is located in a 110-year-old wine estate with a deep vaulted cellar.
WINERY HEISE
Our native land is the wine-growing region of Rheinhessen, and our home is the small city of Nierstein. Welcome to the most beautiful of all wine towns to be found along the Rhine!
Through a stroke of outrageously good fortune, nearly all of our 12 hectares of vineyards are found here in the Riesling City of Nierstein and its neighboring district of Schwabsburg. Just one look at our winery, located at the foot of the world-renowned Roter Hang and offering an unobstructed view of our very own Kranzberg vineyard, will convince you that we truly do live in paradise!
You will find our relatively young family business, presently in its third generation, in an old estate with a deep vaulted cellar that’s over 100 years old. Here the passionate winemaker Peter Heise conjures up his wines to include Rieslings, Chardonnays, Pinot Blancs and Saint Laurent from the Roter Hang. And there are many other grape varieties just waiting to be tasted!
With controlled fermentation and a sure instinct for just the right combination of acidity and sweetness, dry, semi-dry and sweet wines are created for a special type of enjoyment.
Our passion
The cultivation and care of our vineyards, as well as the careful crafting of our wines, are processes close to our heart – and they enables us to guarantee you the most excellent of wines.
See for yourself
Stop by and experience in person the beauty of our landscapes and the quality of our wines. The fantastic views are best enjoyed with a glass of good wine in hand.
Years of experience
Many years of experience allow us to ensure you of the consistently high standard of our wines.
AT THE FOOT OF THE RED SLOPE
What is the ROTER HANG? The wines of Nierstein have long been known throughout the world, and not without reason: Nierstein’s vineyards are located in southeasterly locations directly overlooking the heat-storing Rhine, which lend optimal growing conditions to our vines. The red iron and mineral-rich soils of the Red Slope act as ideal retainers of the warmth. This ancient sedimentary rock that weathers through rain and the forces of nature gives the wines their signature notes telling of a very special terroir.
All this warmth means that our vines blossom early and our grapes enjoy a long ripening season –the ideal conditions for our Rieslings.
The grape harvest usually begins in mid- to late September. This is the prerequisite to the production of noble and elegant wines, particularly Rieslings, characterized by their ripe acidity.
It is because of these special conditions that our wines emerge delicate and fruity, well-rounded and with a pleasing minerality. As the grapes ripen, their acidity finds its ideal, allowing our Rieslings to present themselves as balanced and long-lasting on the palate. Wines from the Roter Hang are denoted by a red logo on our wine list.
The Roter Hang, or Red Slope, is so named for its unique soil. This red and mineral-rich clay slate is a 280 million year old primary rock dating from the Permian period. It was exposed to the world in the middle of the Tertiary period, when the upper Rhine Rift Valley collapsed and the Mainz Basin was formed. The clay slate soil extends as a narrow strip some five kilometers along the left bank of the Rhine between Nackenheim to the north and the edge of Nierstein. The soft, rapidly weathering red slate – with a completely different structure to that of the harder, blue-grey Devonian slate of the Moselle region – releases its many minerals to the vines, lending the wines their special style and pedigree. The soil is interspersed with red slate in which traces of early life can be found. These so-called tracking assemblages, which can be seen in the Nierstein Paleontological Museum, contain the oldest insect tracks to be found in all Europe.
The Roter Hang Association
Our winery is a member of the “Roter Hang Association,” a union of winegrowers which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2019 at its annual event titled “Wine Presentation on the Roter Hang.” The association was formed as a cooperative in order to further promote Nierstein and its famous vineyards. The aim is to maintain quality at the highest of levels in all areas and to continuously strive for improvement.
Our winery is a member of the “Roter Hang Association.”