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Rheingau Wine Week: Ten days of enjoyment and joie de vivre

ImageThe 48th Rheingau Wine Week takes place from Friday, August 8 to Sunday, August 17 on the Dern’schen grounds, around the Marktkirche and on the Schlossplatz. Visitors can look forward to local wines, culinary specialties and musical entertainment.
“Together with the Rheingau winegrowers, we are looking forward to welcoming guests from near and far to enjoy the festive days with them against the impressive backdrop of the town hall, castle and market church,” says Wiesbaden’s mayor Christiane Hinninger: “Conviviality and joie de vivre stand for our positive image and thus also indirectly promote the attractiveness and economic strength of the entire region.”

This year’s Wine Week program will once again combine the tried and tested with fresh impulses: at the “Riesling Vibes” in front of the Marktkirche on the Monday of the wine festival, 11 August, electronic music will be played for the first time as entertainment to accompany a relaxed glass of wine after work. From 3.30 to 6.30 p.m., young up-and-coming DJs from the region will be playing relaxing lounge music, while from 7 to 10 p.m. DJ Peter Latino, who is well-known in the region, will be creating a great atmosphere with electronic and house beats. The musical program will be complemented by a variety of bands performing at the wine festival for the first time – for example the live party band “Apetizer”, the Wiesbaden lounge-pop band “Café Bossa” or the New York soul-pop singer “Will G. & the Soul11 Band”.

Also for the first time this year, awareness teams from the youth welfare initiative Moja e.V. will be on site on both Friday and Saturday evenings from 7 pm to 1 am. They will provide information on safe nightlife, offer direct support if required or refer people to security and emergency services. The teams are there to help create safe spaces, promote mutual respect and set clear boundaries against discriminatory or abusive behavior. They are clearly recognizable by their red bags, black T-shirts and purple vests.

The official opening of the 48th Rheingau Wine Week with its 119 stands will take place on Friday, August 8, at 5 pm on the stage in front of the town hall. Lord Mayor Gert-Uwe Mende and Mayoress Christiane Hinninger will give the starting signal in the presence of the Rheingau and Wiesbaden wine majesties. A total of 50 bands will provide the perfect musical backdrop on the three stages in front of the town hall, the Marktkirche and on the Dern’schen grounds. The musical performances, including band classics such as “Krüger Rockt” and “Los 4 del Son”, will end at 10 pm on all ten days of the event.

The motif of the official Wine Week wine glass features an image of the Wiesbaden Museum on the occasion of its 200th anniversary. Once again this year, it is made of lighter glass and therefore more climate-friendly. The glass can be purchased for three euros at the Wiesbaden Tourist Information and at eight selected stands at the Wine Week.

For environmentally friendly travel to and from the event by bus and train, there is once again an ESWE event ticket, which is subsidized by the City Management. This can be redeemed daily from 12 noon to 8.30 p.m. at the stand in front of the ESWE mobility center for a voucher for a glass of wine at one of the 20 partner wineries. A guarded bicycle checkroom will again be set up at the rear exit of the Marktkirche – this year, for the first time, there will also be another one in Prinzengässchen, which leads from Marktstraße towards the Landtag.

This year, “Hessisches allerlei”, potato potato chips and chocolate strawberries can be purchased on the Schlossplatz. Galettes and crêpes, tarte flambée and barbecue skewers will be on offer on the Dern’schen grounds. The “Käsereich”, known for its range of various Dutch cheeses, and the Wiesbaden “Hofköche” will be jointly supplying the matching specialties to Riesling, Pinot Blanc and other types of wine for the first time this year.

This year, for the first time, various wineries from the area around the Ukrainian twin city of Kamjanez-Podilskyj will be presenting selected sparkling wines and wines at the partner stand. Wiesbaden’s youngest twin city also offers interesting discoveries in the wine glass thanks to dedicated young winemakers. The “longest wine bar in the world” will also be enriched this year by two wineries that will be represented at the Rheingau Wine Week for the first time: The newly founded Woii winery from Geisenheim and the Preis winery from Hochheim am Main.

To ensure that the city remains clean during the festival, plastic crockery and cutlery will continue to be avoided and there will once again be a reusable bottle deposit of 3 euros.

The Protestant family education program in the Wiesbaden deanery offers childcare for children aged five to eleven on both weekends of the wine week. On Saturdays, they will be entertained from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the Haus der Marktkirche, on Sundays from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.. Childcare costs six euros per hour; siblings pay three euros per hour. Thanks to the support of WICM, the painting, craft and play activities are free of charge on Sundays. Children are accepted as long as places are available.

If you don’t want to discover the wide range of local winegrowers on your own and take a look behind the scenes, you can experience the Rheingau Wine Week from a new perspective on a guided tour with tasting. The tour is led and moderated by Katharina Höfling, former Rheingau Wine Queen and German Wine Princess. During the moderated tasting, participants will get to know six renowned Rheingau winegrowers personally at their wine stands. Tickets for the approximately two-hour tour on Friday, August 15, starting at 5 p.m. are limited and can be booked via the following link: tourismus.wiesbaden.de/buchen/erlebnisse?re-product-id=315436.

The 48th Rheingau Wine Week at a glance:

  • The Rheingau Wine Week stands are open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday from 11 am to 11 pm and on Fridays and Saturdays from 11 am to midnight.
  • There are 119 stands (96 wine stands – including 1 partnership stand with Kamjanez-Podilskyj from Ukraine, 20 catering stands, a water stand from ESWE-Versorgung, a Lotto Hessen sales stand and a charity stand “A light shines for you”).
  • The two bicycle lockers (at the rear exit of the Marktkirche opposite the “Lumen” restaurant and in Prinzengässchen, a narrow lane leading from Marktstraße towards the Landtag) will be guarded the whole time, i.e. also Monday to Thursday and on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and on Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to midnight.
  • There is once again a city-subsidized ESWE event ticket, which not only enables a low-cost, environmentally friendly journey by bus and train. It can also be used for a free wine at one of the 20 partner wineries. The voucher for this is available at the stand in front of the ESWE mobility center, Markstraße 10, daily from 12 to 8.30 pm.

Three stages offer musical entertainment: on the Schlossplatz, on the square in front of the Marktkirche and on the Dern’schen grounds. The entertainment program of the music bands ends at 10 pm on all ten days of the event. On Monday, August 11, DJs will be playing electronic music in front of the Marktkirche from 3.30 to 6.30 pm and from 7 to 10 pm.

  • Childcare is offered by the Protestant Family Education in the Wiesbaden Deanery on Saturdays August 9 and 16 and Sundays August 10 and 17, from 4 to 10 p.m. (Saturday) and 1 to 8 p.m. (Sunday) in the Haus der Marktkirche. The cost on Saturdays is six euros per hour or part thereof, three euros for siblings. Childcare on Sundays is free of charge thanks to the support of the WICM.
  • Toilet facilities will be set up between Marktkirche, Rathaus and Restaurant Lumen, between Marktkirche and the kindergarten and at the corner of Marktstraße and Friedrichstraße.
  • The first-aid post is located between the Marktkirche and the kindergarten. The first-aid post is manned Monday to Thursday from 6 pm to 11 pm, on Fridays from 5 pm to midnight and on Saturdays from 2 pm to midnight and on Sundays from 2 pm to 11 pm.
  • The cab stop can be found at its regular location in Friedrichstraße (operating hours: 2 a.m. to 6 p.m.). During the Rheingau Wine Week, there is also a cab rank on Wilhelmstraße (operating hours: 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.).
  • A cash machine will be set up at the town hall, between the town hall and the market church, where you will also find a map of the stands at the wine week.
  • Four advertising pillars will also be set up on the festival grounds with a map of the Wine Week stands.

Further information on the 48th Rheingau Wine Week, the musical program and the stand plan can be found online at www.wiesbaden.de/weinwoche.