What is made here
Wine colours
Colours the rules allow. Pick a colour to filter the rules and grapes below.
The source gives no colour for 1 wine category here, so the colours below are incomplete.
Where it is
Mittelrhein in Germany
- Latitude
- 50.0°–50.8° N
- Vineyard altitude
- 67 m to 285 m
- Production zone
- 94,947 ha
Boundary drawn from whole communes, so it is a little larger than the legal zone. Boundary: Eurac Research PDO inventory (CC0). Country outlines: Natural Earth. Dots on the zone map are the vineyard points used for climate.
Showing every colour The colour filter changes the rules and grapes. Climate, vintages and soils describe the vineyards, so they stay the same.
01 · What the law says
The rules
Limits on grapes, yields, ripeness and ageing that every wine labelled Mittelrhein must meet.
Blend rules
Mittelrhein Prädikatswein Kabinett (wine with the special attribute ‘Kabinett’)
- – Riesling · Main grape
- ≤ 15% other authorised white varieties · Allowed
Other varieties allowed
Besides the main grapes, the rules allow these varieties in some wines. Grape names link where a profile exists.
58 varieties · Mittelrhein (quality sparkling wine), Mittelrhein (semi-sparkling wine)
Auxerrois, Bacchus, Blauer Frühburgunder, Blauer Limberger, Blauer Portugieser, Cabernet Dorsa, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Dakapo, Deckrot, Domina, Dornfelder, Dunkelfelder, Ehrenbreitsteiner, Ehrenfelser, Faberrebe, Findling, Freisamer, Früher Malingre, Früher Roter Malvasier, Gelber Muskateller, Grüner Silvaner, Grüner Veltliner, Helfensteiner, Helios, Heroldrebe, Huxelrebe, Johanniter, Kanzler, Kerner, Morio Muskat, Muller Thurgau, Muskat Ottonel, Nobling, Ortega, Osteiner, Perle, Phoenix, Pinot Noir, Regent, Reichensteiner, Rieslaner, Riesling, Rotberger, Roter Elbling, Roter Gutedel, Roter Traminer, Ruländer, Saint Laurent, Sauvignon Blanc, Scheurebe, Schönburger, Siegerrebe, Solaris, Weißer Burgunder, Weißer Elbling, Weißer Gutedel, Würzer
In the vineyard and cellar: rules for every wine
Allowed
Enrichment (chaptalisation)
02 · Climate fingerprint
The climate
The growing season averages 15.0 °C, intermediate on Gregory Jones's scale, with 1,106 growing degree days (Winkler Ia).
The average year 1991–2020, vineyards at about 137 m
Monthly mean, °CRain, mmGrowing season
- Growing-season temperature
- 15.0 °C
- Intermediate · 15–17 °C (Jones)
- Growing degree days
- 1,106
- Region Ia: under 1,111 degree days
- Growing-season rain
- 473 mm
- Of 804 mm a year
- Harvest rain
- 131 mm
- September–October
Copernicus ERA5-Land monthly averages at 5 vineyard points (Vineyard point 1, 76 m; Vineyard point 2, 103 m; Vineyard point 3, 145 m; Vineyard point 4, 179 m; Vineyard point 5, 184 m), moved to each point's height from the model's terrain. Indices that need daily data are not captured yet. How the climate figures are made.
Lower confidence:Monthly reanalysis in moderately complex terrain; not yet checked against a weather station.
Closest climates in the database
Picked by the data, not by hand: the profiles nearest on season warmth (counted twice), degree days, rain, ripening-month nights and day–night range. Neighbours within 30 km are left out, as they share the same weather.
1. Maasvallei LimburgVery similarCompared with Mittelrhein: same season warmth, similar rain.
2. Würzburger Stein-BergVery similarCompared with Mittelrhein: same season warmth, similar rain.
3. FrankenVery similarCompared with Mittelrhein: same season warmth, similar rain.
Growing-season temperature
Growing degree days
Growing-season rain
03 · Year by year
35 vintages
Each column is one growing season: heat above or below the 1991–2020 average, and rain at harvest. Pick a year for the details.
Warmer than averageCooler than averageHarvest rain (Sep–Oct)Average harvest rain, 131 mm
2025
- Growing-season temp.
- Growing degree days
- Harvest rain
- Growing-season rain
- September nights
- Hot days and frosts
Seasons are labelled by harvest year (April–October). Year-to-year changes from ERA5-Land; tested against station records in Alto Adige (r = 0.94 for season temperature at Bolzano). Rain varies more locally, so treat single-season rain with some caution. Vintage ratings, harvest dates and frost or hail events have places in the data model but are not loaded yet.
04 · Where the numbers come from
Sources
- A geospatial inventory of regulatory information for wine protected designations of origin in Europe · Candiago et al., Scientific Data 9, 394 (2022); Eurac Research · CC0
- ERA5-Land monthly averaged data (reanalysis-era5-land-monthly-means) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), Climate Data Store · CC BY 4.0 (Copernicus licence)
- OpenStreetMap vineyard areas (landuse=vineyard), from Geofabrik country extracts · OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0
- Copernicus DEM GLO-90 (AWS open data tiles) · European Space Agency / Copernicus · Copernicus DEM licence
- Single document: Mittelrhein (Official Journal C, C/2026/738, 5.2.2026; and the product specification 'gU Mittelrhein_111216.pdf' from the EU register) · European Union, Official Journal (C series) · EU law (Commission reuse policy)
- Climate profiles calculated by Vinous: method
Still to check (3)
- Generated from EU reference data: check against the current product specification.
- From the specification: No minimum alcohol, acidity or sugar limits are set; wines made without enrichment may exceed 15 % total alcohol. Kabinett must be Weißer Riesling with up to 15 % other white varieties (sweetening products excluded), at most 96 g/l total alcohol (12.16 % vol), and like Spätlese must carry a municipality, vineyard or smaller unit name; the Kabinett and Spätlese variety rules apply from the 2026 vintage. Single-vineyard names are limited to wines labelled Ruländer, Weißer Burgunder, Weißer Riesling or Blauer Spätburgunder. The national product specification sets must weights by variety and Land; the lowest is recorded per product (Riesling, with the Nordrhein-Westfalen figures for Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese). Others: Qualitätswein 60 °Oe (Dornfelder 68 °Oe in Rheinland-Pfalz; Riesling 57 °Oe in Nordrhein-Westfalen); Kabinett 73 °Oe (NRW) and 76 °Oe white / 80 °Oe red (RLP); Spätlese 80 °Oe (RLP Riesling, NRW others) up to 85 °Oe (RLP other whites) and 87 °Oe (RLP reds); Auslese 88 °Oe (RLP Riesling, NRW others) and 93 °Oe (RLP others); Sekt 57 °Oe (other varieties; 57/60 °Oe in NRW). Rotling must weight is left open because it depends on the varieties blended. Prädikatswein may not be enriched; Sekt made by bottle fermentation must spend at least 9 months in bottle; making the wine elsewhere in Rheinland-Pfalz or a neighbouring Land is allowed.
- National tier (DOC/DOCG) not captured yet; rules extracted from the specification text.