Weingut Kloster Eberbach

900 years of Viticulture The wine estate of the Eberbach Monastery, the latter of which was founded in 1136 by St. Bernhard of Clairvaux (Burgundy) has, through its tireless pursuit of quality, made wine history. This centuries-old tradition has led the Eberbach Monastery to become the largest German wine estate, a tradition carried on after the monastery's secularization in 1803 through the Dukes of Nassau, then beginning in 1866 as Royal Domain by the state of Prussia and since 1945 by the Federal State of Hesse as proprietor of the wine estate. Since 1806 the estate has conducted its own auctions, and, as the leading German producer, was one of the founders a hundred years ago of the „Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter“ (Association of German Premium Wine Estates), then known as the „Verband Deutscher Naturwein-Versteigerer“ (Association of Premium Wine Auctioneers). Already at that time the list of clients of the estate read like an excerpt from the roll call of European nobility. Even Otto von Bismarck, the German chancellor, the German Emperor and the Rothschild banking family appreciated the wines of the Eberbach Monastery. The wine treasury of the monastery, which dates back as far as 1706, today still houses noble wines from that era, which represent some of the most valuable in the world. With the knowledge that the fundamentals of highest quality wines lie in the vineyard, the Cistercians, the Nassau dukes and the Prussians acquired the best vineyards, thereby giving the estate command over unequaled holdings on the Hessische Bergstrasse and in the Rheingau. Wines of historical quality standards are produced in the three wine cellars in Bensheim, Assmannshausen and at the Steinberg just outside the Eberbach Monastery.