Altenahr is a village in the west of Germany's tiny Ahr wine region, known for its pale but intensely aromatic red wines made from Spätburgunder (the German name for Pinot Noir). The village is located just a couple of miles upriver from Ahrweiler, halfway between the Ahr river's source (apparently located beneath an old wooden house in the village of Blankenheim) and its confluence with the mighty Rhine.
The Ahr winegrowing zone covers only the lower half of the river valley, making Altenahr the region's westernmost village, and also the highest. Up here in the Eifel hills, the Ahr valley is narrow and extremely steep in places – more like a gorge than a valley. Vineyards here rise vertiginously up from the river, to altitudes of around 980ft (300m) above sea level.
Altenahr has one Grosse Lage vineyard site, Altenahrer Eck. This steeply sloping, south-facing vineyard rises precipitously up above Reimerzhoven, a tiny village just downriver of Altenahr. The site's western flank is capped by the ruins of a medieval castle, while its eastern flank is closed suddenly by a dramatic rocky outcrop.
The vine rows here are too steep for machinery of any kind, so all aspects of vineyard maintenance are carried out manually. Pruning, tending and harvesting on such sites are back-breaking operations. The thin, free-draining soils here consist of ancient weathered greywacke and slate.
Immediately east of the Eck vineyard is the Mönchberg vineyard of neighboring Mayschoss, classified as an Erste Lage site.
