Wine named after its method of production, whose origin lies in ancient Rome (see under Defrutum). Emperor Charlemagne (742-814) attached great importance to always having "vinum coctum" (cooked wine) in stock, a wine improved by heat. In his wine law of 1498, Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519) issued precise regulations on its production and protected it from counterfeiting. A fire wine was coveted like the southern wines imported via the famous Greek port of Monemvasia. It cost its price and was therefore also a lucrative trade and export commodity. The main customer was mainly Holland, as well as the former Duchy of Brabant (today Belgium and the Netherlands), England and the northern European Hanseatic cities.
A "gefeuerter nuwer wyn" was natural, with additives prohibited. It was of better quality than the fully fermented medieval wines, which were usually sour and spiced with herbs to improve the taste. In the 15th century, a real fire wine boom began, which lasted until the 19th century. Around 1800, this speciality established the international reputation of wines from the Middle Rhine. In 1840, firewine was still honoured in literature in the poem "Der Deutsche Rhein" (The German Rhine) by Nicolaus Becker (1809-1845), which was written at the height of the conflicts between the German states and France: " They shall not have it, the free German Rhine, as long as hearts feast on its firewine".
The art of fire wine was the high school of medieval cellar technique and the fire master, as a member of the cooper guild, was a highly respected specialist. Only grapes of the best quality harvested on hot days were used. There were white and red versions. Despite all the sweetness, the method of production resulted in white wines mainly from Riesling with a fine acidity or in red wines with a deeper colour due to the production procedure. The wood-clad walls of the man-high fire chamber were coated with insulating clay. Such "camers" had to be approved by the city council as "Brause-wein-steten". In the centre of the room was a depression that was filled with charcoal. The barrels were stored about half a metre above the coals, a sheet of iron stored between them protected them from the embers and radiated the heat evenly.
Great heat was generated in the fire chamber, so that the must fermented within a short time and began to "effervesce" like boiling water. The process continued until the development of carbonic acid had ceased and fermentation was completed quickly and earlier due to the heat, and therefore the wines had a relatively high amount of residual sugar. After about three days, this resulted in a completely yeast-free, "lieblich" tasting young wine. The freshly fired wine was then "usually still quite warm in the barrel", freighted by the wine churners onto "specially hired barges" and shipped down the Rhine. The first ship was loaded with flowers and carried decorated down to Holland.
Feuerwein was produced in many places on both sides of the Rhine, but the centre was the Middle Rhine and here above all Bacharach and the four-valley area (Manubach, Oberdiebach, Rheindiebach, Steeg). The Bacharach fire wine had a special reputation because the carefully selected grapes were stored on straw for some time, which made the grape must more concentrated and the wine sweeter and richer in alcohol. It was the Bacharach fire wine that "could induce Pope Aeneus Sylivius and the wine-savvy drunkard Emperor Wenceslas to cite a quite decent quantity of it annually to Rome and Prague" (W. O. von Horn, 1866).
Fire wine from other places was also shipped to Bacharach, for this was the large Electoral Palatinate wine stacking site. Because of the dangerous stretch of the Rhine through the Binger Loch, larger ships could only sail down the Rhine from Bacharach. Feuerwein was once tasted from sterling silver bowls that were gold-plated on the inside and decorated with grape motifs. The Feuerwein tradition was revived by the well-known Posthof Bacharach restaurant. In terms of EU wine law, the "Original Feuerwein vom Mittelrhein" produced there can be described as a wine-based drink. Depending on the progress of fermentation, it has an alcohol content of 18 to 21% vol. In Italy (Marche region) there is a so-called vino cotto, which is also produced using heat (source: Posthof Bacharach, 55422 Bacharach - Mittelrhein, Oberstraße 45).
