These vines are truly veterans: The "Rhodter Rosengarten" has more than 400 years under its belt - and still produces wine. According to oral tradition, the vineyard in the wine village of Rhodt unter Rietburg already existed before the 30-year war, which took place from 1618 to 1648.
This makes the Rosengarten the oldest vineyard still bearing vines in at least the Palatinate - if not the world. 300 vines still stand on the approximately 600 square meters of land, mostly Traminer vines with individual Silvaner vines in between. It is not known who once planted them. However, wine has probably been grown in Rhodt unter Rietburg since Roman times - in any case, the town was already known for its Traminer in the Middle Ages. In 1603, Margrave Ernst Friedrich von Baden acquired the town, and the Badeners ruled here until 1801 - making the small town below Rietburg Castle, built in 1200, rich through the wine trade. As a result, stately winegrowers' houses were built. The old courtyards with their old archways can still be seen today - almost 80 percent of the village is listed as a historic monument.
Another ruler also knew how beautiful it was here in the "Tuscany of the North": King Ludwig I of Bavaria built his summer residence, Villa Ludwigshöhe, above the village in 1846. The importance of viticulture for the village is shown by the local specialty: in addition to the usual Palatinate wine pint of 0.5 liters, wine is also served here in the "Rhodter Piff" - a pint in a one-liter glass.
In the Rose Garden, however, on the eastern outskirts of the village opposite the Rietburg regional winegrowers' cooperative, the rootless vines in the ancient vineyard still stand today - gnarled, picturesque and rock-hard. Year after year, they yield between 150 and 300 liters of wine, and the resulting Gewürztraminer is, of course, the specialty of the Arthur Oberhofer winery in Edesheim, the owners of the vineyard. The wine is beguiling for its origin alone, but also for the rose aroma typical of Gewürztraminer - fitting for the vineyard name "Rhodter Rosengarten".
