Schloss Johanisberg

Vineyards were originally planted at Schloss Johannisberg in 817, supposedly on the orders of the Roman emperor Charlemagne. A Benedictine monastery was erected in 1100, replaced by the current castle from 1716 and, in an auspicious move, the land planted exclusively to the Riesling grape in 1720 making Schloss Johannisberg the oldest Riesling winery in the world. In 1775, it invented the Spätlese category of wines (albeit by accident) when a delayed harvest yielded overly ripe fruit that the winemaker decided to use anyway.