German wine is primarily produced in the west of
Germany, along the river
Rhine and its tributaries, with the oldest plantations going back to the
Roman era. Approximately 60 percent of the German
wine production is situated in the federal state of
Rhineland-Palatinate, where 6 of the 13 regions (
Anbaugebiete) for quality wine are situated. Germany has about 102,000
hectares (252,000
acres or 1,020 square kilometers) of vineyard, which is around one tenth of the vineyard surface in
Spain,
France or
Italy. The total wine production is usually around 9 million
hectoliters annually, corresponding to 1.2 billion bottles, which places Germany as the eighth largest wine-producing country in the world.
White wine accounts for almost two thirds of the total production.