HERMANNSHÖHLE

Whatever the name may suggest in German, there's nothing cave-like about this large, spacious room in the house behind the old city walls. Furnishings include beautiful original parquet, historic oak ceiling beams and a cozy couch that can be converted into a wonderfully comfortable bed. Those coming with a larger party of family or friends can rent the "Hermannshöhle" and "Bastei" together. You then have the entire house for yourself! For more than 100 years, the Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle has been the highest altitude site in the Prussian portion of the Nahe. It served as the gold standard for evaluating all other hillside vineyards in the area. The monumental hillside vineyard is named for a small medieval mining tunnel ("Höhle") on the lower portion of the hillside. The "Hermann" in question derives from "Hermes," the Roman God of messengers and travelers, and likely refers to an older pagan house of worship. Even in Roman times, wine growing on the Nahe was flourishing. The Hermannshöhle is made primarily of black slate interwoven with volcanic rocks, limestone and porphry. Since the 1970s, Helmut Dönnhoff has been both the owner of note in the Hermannshöhle, as well as a genius artist of its extreme range of exceptional Rieslings — from dry Grosses Gewächs to noble sweet Prädikat wines.