Schloss Johannisberg, Wine estate in Rheingau, Germany.

Schloss Johannisberg is a Baroque palace complex of pale stone and stucco buildings with grey slate roofs, arranged around two circular courtyards. A long hipped-roof wing with rows of windows and a central projecting entrance stands at the centre, flanked by lower buildings; to the left is a three-storey block with a red-brown roof and a round-arched gateway, and to the right a small chapel with a tower beside a rectangular blue pool. The 50-hectare vineyard surrounding it grows only Riesling.

Around 1100 Archbishop Ruthard gave the vineyard to the Benedictine abbey of St. Alban, which founded a monastery here; a three-nave pillar basilica with nine bays and a transept was built, of which only foundations remain. In 1716 Prince-Abbot Konstantin von Buttlar of Fulda bought the estate for 75,392 gulden and had the Mainz architects Andrea Gallasini and Johann Kaspar Herwarthel build a three-winged Baroque palace; the 260 m vaulted cellar was finished in 1721. Vine planting rose from 14.3 to 18.9 hectares, almost entirely Riesling, the reason the estate calls itself the world's first Riesling winery. In 1816 Emperor Francis I gave it to Prince Metternich.

The Rheingau Musik Festival performs in the Fürst-von-Metternich-Saal, a hall inside the palace rather than a church. Princess Tatiana von Metternich-Winneburg, a festival co-founder, secured the estate's role as a venue. The name Johannisberg comes from Saint John, to whom the monastery was dedicated around 1100.

Visitors can book guided tours through the vineyards and historic cellars and taste wines at the tasting room. The Schlossschänke restaurant on the grounds offers meals daily, making it easy to arrange food and drink during your visit.

The 260-metre vaulted cellar completed in 1721 runs beneath the palace, and the estate still sells its best lots as Cabinet wines, a designation used here again from 1818. From 1830 Prince Metternich required every label to be signed by hand by the administrator and the cellar master.