It all started with a few bottles of wine under a bridge, some hammocks overlooking the Rhine, and a handful of young winemakers who simply wanted to share their wines and their knowledge of wine with other young people their own age. "It's crazy how things have developed," marvels Alina Engel. Today, ten years later, the Mainz Wine Salon, now called the Rheinhessen Wine Salon, has triggered an unprecedented run on wines from Rheinhessen's young winemakers, has garnered awards and fame, and is a model for wine presentations throughout Germany.

It was probably the very special atmosphere: right on the Rhine promenade in Mainz, with its wonderful view of the Rhine, in the middle of the Great Wine Capital, young Rheinhessen winemakers served their wines to a young, urban audience once a month. The whole thing takes place open air, with guests sitting simply on benches or stone walls or whatever else the promenade has to offer. And they enjoy a selection of 40 to 60 wines at sunset and under the rising stars – and that is meant literally.

In 2008, 20 young winemakers from all parts of Rheinhessen founded the Mainz Wine Salon. In 2009, the association decided to bring their wine bottles to Mainz in order to raise awareness of Rheinhessen wines in the state capital. The concept was met with a great response right from the start: "It was totally relaxed at the beginning," says Aline Engel, "the food was homemade, we hung up hammocks, and people just stopped by after work."

Serving wine in such a relaxed open-air atmosphere was something new, and the winemakers themselves were there to chat with guests and explain their wines. Soon the wines were sold out every evening, and from 2013 onwards, the whole thing really took off. "We realized that we needed proper logistics," says Alina.

The After Work Wine Lounge moved to the fountain in front of the Mainz Hilton Hotel, a few meters further on, where there was more space, and the winemakers bought their own bar, refrigerated trucks, and pavilions for rainy days. "Our motto is: give Rheinhessen wine the stage it deserves," says Alina, who is herself a young winemaker at the Meyerhof winery in Flonheim, Rheinhessen, and joined the wine salon in 2013.

More than 1,000 guests now flock to the wine salon on the first Tuesday of every month during the summer season. "We're always amazed that people just don't want to go home," says Alina. "It's nine o'clock, then ten, but they're still sitting there – it's become a really long after-work party." And it has spread: a few years ago, the wine salon at the Landesmuseum in Mainz was added, and since then, once a month, the young winemakers' wine bar has been combined with culture such as live music in the courtyard – right in the middle of the government district.

This is precisely why the Mainz Wine Salon received the Best of Wine Tourism Award 2020 in the "Wine and Culture" category: the jury praised the combination of wine, culture, and young winemakers for creating a unique atmosphere of wine culture. In fact, it was precisely this concept that really brought the quality and diversity of Rheinhessen wines to the attention of the people of Mainz.

This is now also happening in Darmstadt, where the wine salon moved in 2018 to the student city 40 kilometers away in neighboring Hesse. "People there love the concept and they have many more questions than the people of Mainz," says Engel, "but the people of Darmstadt are incredibly interested in the region and our wines." Well, wine, culture, and a balmy summer night – what more could you want?

But that doesn't apply to the summer of 2020, when the wine salon, now known as Weinsalon Rheinhessen, fell victim to the coronavirus crisis. But that hasn't stopped the young Rheinhessen winemakers: "We've created a 'wine salon to go,'" says Alina: a box containing twelve bottles of wine from different winemakers, delivered to guests' homes. The tasting package is available in dry, semi-dry-sweet, and mixed flavors. "It's in high demand, even though we've done virtually no advertising," Alina reports. Wine fans are bringing the Rhine feeling home with them in this way, she says: "Then the wine bottle just splashes around at home."