Rheingau Wine Week Wiesbaden

The longest wine bar in the world

The Rheingau Wine Week is Hesse's largest wine festival and is considered the world's largest Riesling tasting. The 49th edition runs from August 14 to 23, 2026, in the center of Wiesbaden – right between Marktkirche, Schlossplatz, and Dern'sches Gelände. Around 100 vintners from the Rheingau present their wines at about 120 stands, complemented by 20 gastronomy stands, water vendors, lotteries, and aid organizations.

Riesling, Pinot Noir, and more

The Rheingau is one of Germany's most renowned wine-growing regions. On just 3,200 hectares between Hochheim and Lorch, some of the world's best-known Rieslings grow – on slate soils on steep slopes above the Rhine. The wine week showcases the diversity of this growing region: dry and noble sweet Rieslings, Pinot Noir, sparkling wine from Schloss Vaux, wines from Schloss Johannisberg, Kloster Eberbach, and many family businesses. Each stand is a unique vintner presentation, often with community and family involvement.

Three stages, around 50 live bands

Alongside the wine service, there's an extensive stage program. On three stages – at Marktkirche, Schlossplatz, and in Dern'sches Gelände – around 50 live bands perform, covering a wide range of genres from jazz and soul to pop covers and local dialect acts from Mainz-Wiesbaden. The program is freely accessible, with no separate ticket required.

Reusable instead of waste

For years, the Wine Week has emphasized sustainability: no plastic tableware, a consistent reusable deposit of €3 per glass, and the official season wine glass (also €3) is not just a collector's item – it's produced in an environmentally friendly way and, according to the organizers, saves around 315 kg of CO₂ per year. Keeping the glass provides a souvenir from the 2026 edition.

Wiesbaden as a backdrop

Wiesbaden, the state capital of Hesse and one of Germany's most important spa towns, offers a spectacular setting: the Marktkirche with its red brick facade, the neoclassical Stadtschloss (now home to the Hessian state parliament), the New Town Hall, the Schlossplatz – a 19th-century ensemble that is always present as you stroll from stand to stand. The city lies at the transition from the Taunus to the Rhine plain, in direct proximity to the vineyards.

Meeting point of the region

With several hundred thousand visitors over ten days, the Rheingau Wine Week is the major social event of the Wiesbaden summer. It's a meeting point for the region, tourists, business people, and wine lovers – and for many Wiesbaden residents, it's the most important date in August on the calendar.