Ingelheim's Shell-Limestone Grosse Lage for Spätburgunder

Horn

The Horn sits above Ober-Ingelheim on the lower flank of the Mainzer Berg, in the corner of Rheinhessen long known as the Rotweinstadt, or red wine city. The VDP lists it as a VDP.GROSSE LAGE, the top rung of the association's classification and the equivalent of a grand cru. In Rheinhessen the VDP has admitted only Riesling and Spätburgunder to that highest tier, and on the Horn it is Spätburgunder, Pinot Noir, that carries the site.

The site

The vineyard covers roughly 22 hectares and rises from about 125 up to around 225 metres, with some accounts placing its upper edge nearer 250 metres. Unusually for a leading red site, the exposure is west rather than south, a flank that catches long afternoon light through the growing season. The name is old: "am Horn" appears in records from 1570, describing a protruding spur of land, comparable to the horn of a deer or chamois, that stands out from the ground around it.

Geology

The Horn is a limestone site. Its soils are Rendzinas over fossil-rich shell limestone, described by the regional wine body as shallow to moderately deep, very calcareous, very stony sandy loam, threaded with loess and scattered with limestone fragments. This warm, free-draining, chalk-heavy ground stands apart from the slate of the Mosel and the deep loess and clay of the Wonnegau to the south, and it is the calcareous backbone that Ingelheim's growers credit for the structure and savoury edge in their Pinot Noir.

The wines and who makes them

Weingut J. Neus is the VDP estate at the heart of the Horn. Founded in 1881 by Josef Neus, a grower who came from the Mosel, the house developed its own selection of Pinot Noir, the so-called Neus clone, still in the vineyard today; the Schmitz family took over in 2013. Neus farms about 12 hectares across two Grosse Lage sites, the Horn and the neighbouring Pares, with Spätburgunder making up the majority of plantings alongside St. Laurent and Frühburgunder. The reds are aged in large wooden casks and bottled unfiltered. The estate frames its Horn Spätburgunder Grosses Gewächs as the spicier and more overtly fruity of its two grand wines, built around dark berry and cherry with restrained barrique. wein.plus ranks Neus among the best producers in the country.

The site is farmed by more than one grower. Ökoweingut Arndt F. Werner works parcels on the Horn as well, planting Chardonnay and Spätburgunder, with newer Syrah, on a terrace at about 190 metres, and likewise treats it as grand cru ground.

Context

Ingelheim's red wine reputation is centuries old, tied to the imperial palace, the Kaiserpfalz, that gives the collective vineyard area its name. The Horn belongs to that lineage: a warm, west-facing limestone rise whose modern identity rests on serious, age-worthy Spätburgunder rather than on the Riesling for which Rheinhessen is more widely known.

This comprehensive guide is part of the WineSaint Wine Region Guide collection. Last updated: August 2026.