The hospitable Traminer-Wine -Village
with its interesting historical past welcomes you.
We hope that you will enjoy your stay.

 

In 58 B.C., the Romans conquered this region and, during their 400 years of reign, they left behind many traces of their existence, not only in the region of Rhodt. During the Roman times, Germanic communities – the Nemeter and Vagionen – crossed the river Rhein. In the time of migration of the people, tribes like the Burgunder, Vandalen , Alanen and Sueven lived in Palatinate.

Round about 450 A.D., the Alemanns conquered the country. After being exiled by the Huns under Attila, they settled again. However, after their defeat by the Franks in the battle of Zülpisch in around 496 A.D., they were finally forced out of their home.


The fate of the village and its inhabitants remained an incomprehensible part of history for a long time. It was only with the construction of the castle Rietburg (old name. Rippburg) from 1200 - 1204 that the village Rhodt appeared again in the historical documents. In the “Eußertahler Document” the “Nobleman of Rode” can be found several times.

From beginning of the 14th century until 1603, Rhodt belonged to Wuerttenberg. Due to the fact that, in the area of Wuerttenberg, four other villages with the name “Rhodt” already existed, the Palatinate “Rhodt” received the epithet “unter Rietburg (Rod u. Rippburg)”

Even at that time the vine-growing was already well developed. As a result of the suitable soil, mostly the Traimer vine was cultivated. In the public record office at Speyer exists a letter dated 1591, in which the glory of the vine of Rhodt was already described.

In 1603, the margrave Ernst Friedrich of Baden acquired the community Rhodt by barter. As under Württemberg, the time in Rhodt under Baden-Durlach was relatively nice until 1801.

 

Due to the economical exchange of goods with Baden, the Traminer wine had big sales. Nowadays the achieved prices of 700 - 1000 florin per cart-load are nearly unimaginable.
Because of the flourishing economy it was possible to build magnificent wine-grower houses. Also some inhabitants of Speyer and Landau built big high-class houses, so that they could spend their leisure time in a nice country side, away from the cities. Rhodt was mostly spared of destruction, during the disordered times of war, in the 17th and 18th century.

In 1798, the French took possession of Rhodt. In the contract “Luneviller Peace” dated 1801 it was fixed that Rhodt was now French until the first “Parisian Peace” in 1814.

After that time it came under German-Austrian administration. On 1st May 1816 Rhodt was annexed, together with the whole Palatinate, to the kingdom Bavaria.

 

In 1972, the village celebrated its 1200th anniversary. In the same year Rhodt won the silver medal of the country contest “Our village should become more beautiful”.

The main part of the village, approximately 80%, is under protection of historical monuments. The extreme efforts of the community to maintain these protected buildings and to embellish the place have been honored by means of several awards.

1984: Gold medal on federal and country level of the contest: “Citizen, it’s about your community – Living and building in old surroundings.”

1986: Winner of the contest “The most beautiful wine-grower village” and winning the gold medal of the country-based contest “ Our village should become more beautiful”.

1989: Gold medal of the federal-based contest “ Our village should become more beautiful”.

2003: Gold medal of the federal-based contest “ Our village should become more beautiful”.