Red Wine Trail Assmannshausen

Take a sharp right onto it and walk straight ahead into the forest at the next left-hand bend in the road. After about 100 meters there is a sharp left turn; a few meters away is a viewing pavilion with a view of the Assmannhäuser Höllenberg. Its name has nothing to do with the devil, but comes from the Middle High German word “helda”, which described a steep slope. And as you can see at first glance, it is steep on both sides. The fact that the wines from the Höllenberg taste so “devilishly” good is due to the slatey soil, the steep inclination of the slope and its orientation to the south and southwest.

After enjoying the view, the trail continues steeply uphill. Two hairpin bends follow at the top before you reach the top station of the chairlift. The small game park is part of the Niederwald hunting lodge, the “nucleus” of the Ostein Landscape Park. Karl Maximilian Count Amor von Ostein had a hunting lodge built here for his guests in 1764 and began to transform the entire Niederwald plateau right up to the Niederwald Monument (which was only inaugurated 74 years after his death) into the first landscape park on the Rhine.

At the mountain station, we do not turn half-left towards the hunting lodge, but turn half-right along the game fence. At the end of the fence, the markings point down to the right. The route follows the forest path steadily downhill. At the border between the forest and the vineyards, it turns sharply right and now leads into the vineyards of the Assmannshäuser Frankenthal in several serpentines on paved farm tracks.

In the lowest right-hand bend, a magnificent panorama suddenly opens up. The Rhine gurgles through the downhill section of the Binger Loch, where it has the highest current speed of 14 kilometers per hour on its way from its source in the Swiss Grisons to its mouth in the sea. At the bend, it is worth turning around and looking directly at the rocky spur: Millions of years ago, the plates that were once stacked horizontally on top of each other were set up vertically by huge tectonic shifts. This phenomenon, which is evident in many places in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley (e.g. the Loreley), indicates that the Rhenish Slate Mountains (like the Himalayas and the Alps) are a geologically young folded mountain range.

The farm track leads down to the edge of the village at the former elementary school with a beautiful view of Assmannshausen. From here, 200 steps lead down to the left into the village. At the church, the steps, which squeeze between the houses at the end, lead onto Niederwaldstraße. The route turns left onto it and leads first to the level crossing and then on towards the Rhine.

At the promenade, turn right and stroll along the hotels and restaurants until you reach the junction with the street “Am alten Rathaus”. You will pass the venerable Hotel Krone, the oldest inn in the village. Before tourists discovered the Rhine Valley, drovers used to change their horses here. Famous travelers have been staying at the hotel since the beginning of the 19th century. Ferdinand Freiligrath, who wrote his “Confession of Faith” in the Krone in 1844, is commemorated in the museum room of the same name in the hotel.

The route turns right into the street “Am alten Rathaus”, crosses under the railroad line and turns left into “Lorcher Straße” directly behind it. From its end, the path leads steadily uphill in five bends in Höllenberg. Further up, there is the option to branch off briefly to the Rotweinlaube. This excursion (just under 100 m) rewards you with one of the most magnificent panoramic views in the entire Middle Rhine Valley - and a depot where chilled wine awaits hikers. The cosy pavilion with its striking copper roof is a relic from Margarethe von Trotta's 2006 film “Ich bin die Andere” starring Katja Riemann and Armin Mueller-Stahl. It was supposed to be mothballed after filming, but enterprising locals campaigned for it to be given a new permanent home just a few meters above where it was filmed.

The path splits at the junction to the Rotweinlaube. The main path leads up to the left to a small wooded area. From there, it follows the farm track along the vineyards of the Hinterkirch vineyard in the direction of Aulhausen until it meets the access path to the Rheingauer Klostersteig. Here the markings point downhill to the right and lead back to the Höllenberg on the descent. At the large lettering on the vineyard wall, the view of the Rhine Valley opens up again, with the castles of Rheinstein and Reichenstein greeting you from the opposite bank. The Red Wine Trail now joins the Rheinsteig and Klostersteig trails on the descent back to the starting point. If you want to avoid the Hinterkirch detour, you can walk directly towards Assmannshausen from the junction to the Rotweinlaube and join the main trail further down.

Once you arrive in the village, you have really earned a wine tasting in one of the inns and restaurants.