Rheingau

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For the wine region, see Rheingau (wine region).

Rheingau valley with the River Rhine

The Rheingau (in English: Rhine District) is the hill country on the north side of the Rhine River between Wiesbaden and Rüdesheim near Frankfurt, reaching from the western Taunus to the Rhine. It lies in the state of Hesse and is part of the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis administrative disctrict. It is famous for Rheingau wines, especially the "Rheingauer Riesling," and its many wine taverns.

[edit] History

The Rheingau was as a Gau (a county) of the Frankish Empire. It was bordered by the Niddagau, the Maingau, the Oberrheingau, and the Lahngau. In 983, Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor, gave the Rheingau, together with other territories, to the Archbishopric of Mainz during the diet of Verona. When the Archbishopric was dissolved in 1806, the Rheingau was given to the Duchy of Nassau.

The counts of the Rheingau, the Rhinegraves, inherited territories to the left of the Rhine (on the River Nahe and in the Alsace) from the Wildgraves and the counts of Salm, so that these territories also came to be linked to their name.