TERROIR PROFILE
Obere Ahr (Altenahr)
Rock-gorge sites
Upper Ahr: taut, mineral wines from the steepest slate rocks of the valley.
Climate, site & wine
Meagre slate and outcropping rock restrict yields. Spätburgunder and Frühburgunder stay cooler and tauter than on the middle Ahr.
The Mayschoß-Altenahr cooperative and the Sermann estate farm the terraces; Riesling also has a place here. The 2021 flood devastated roughly ten percent of the vineyard area in the Ahr valley; the upper Ahr is the smallest section at about 60 hectares.
TERROIR PROFILE · Ahr
Obere Ahr (Altenahr) Rock-gorge sites
Upper Ahr: taut, mineral wines from the steepest slate rocks of the valley.
SOILS
Slatemineral, smoky
Slate stores heat and releases it at night — wines show wet stone, smoke and a delicate structure.
CLIMATE · Cool continental
The upper Ahr lies at the upper end of viticulture, in the rain shadow of the Eifel. In the narrow gorge, ripening comes later than in the middle valley.
TOPOGRAPHY · terraced
The Altenahrer Eck and the Übigberg cling as extremely steep rock and slate terraces above the Are castle ruin; walls and stairways shape the sites.
WHAT IT MEANS IN THE GLASS
Similar terroirs worldwide
Computed from fingerprint similarity
Bourgogne · Côte de Nuits
Burgundy
94% similar
- Body (slightly): Obere Ahr (Altenahr) gives less body → finer, lighter wines (5 vs. 6).
- Freshness (slightly): Obere Ahr (Altenahr) has more freshness → crisp acidity, long ageing (8 vs. 7).
Tauberfranken
Baden
94% similar
- Minerality (slightly): Obere Ahr (Altenahr) is more mineral → salty-stony notes, more tension (8 vs. 7).
- Freshness (slightly): Obere Ahr (Altenahr) has more freshness → crisp acidity, long ageing (8 vs. 7).
Wineries on this terroir
See all 5 →This terroir's soils in the glossary