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This is particularly clear in the case of the local wines. Although this is only the second level in the quality pyramid, we find a wealth of convincing wines in this category, often full of character and clearly conveying their origin, which we ourselves would hardly have expected. In the days of dry Kabinett and Spätlese wines, one had to search for producers who brought such qualities to the bottle; today they are the rule.
Only a fraction of the 350 or so local wines we tasted for this BEST OF were not rated at least "Very Good"; quite a few can easily compete in quality with the simpler Grossen Gewächsen, but are generally much more enjoyable to drink. We can recommend every single wine we present on this page. The fact that a large proportion of them are offered at very consumer-friendly prices is unlikely to upset anyone.
*Note: There is one restriction in terms of clarity that also caused us a bit of trouble when selecting the wines for this BEST OF: instead of wines with a site designation and the classification VDP.Erste Lage, the Rheinhessen Regional Association has local wines with the addition "VDP.Aus Ersten Lagen", which can come from several sites that must be classified at least as Erste Lage. So where to classify? For this time, we have decided to include these wines here without opening a separate category for them. Basically, the situation where local wines come from classified sites is more the rule than the exception, even outside Rheinhessen. The wines in question are marked with * marked.
We always offer this selection as handy PDF. Links to all the wines tasted and their producers with detailed descriptions can be obtained by clicking on the respective headings. The links to the Rhine-Hessian local wines from first sites and the rosé wines are at the end of the list.