Ehrenfelser is a white wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

 grape

Grape

A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...

 variety of German

German wine

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 ...

 origin. It was created by Dr. Heinrich Birk (1898-1973) at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute

Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute

The Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute was founded in 1872 and is located in Geisenheim, Rheingau, Germany. In 1876 professor Hermann Müller from Switzerland joined the institution, where he developed his namesake variety Müller-Thurgau , which became the most planted grape variety in Germany in...

 in 1929, by crossing the varieties Riesling

Riesling

Riesling is a white grape variety which originated in the Rhine region of Germany. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet and sparkling white wines. Riesling wines are usually varietally...

 and Silvaner

Silvaner

Sylvaner or Silvaner is a variety of white wine grape grown primarily in Alsace and Germany, where its official name is Grüner Silvaner. In Germany it is best known as a component of Liebfraumilch and production boomed in the 1970s to the detriment of quality, but it has long enjoyed a better...

, with the identification of Silvaner being somewhat uncertain.

Ehrenfelser is grown primarily in the Palatinate

Palatinate (wine region)

Palatinate is a German wine-growing region in the area of Bad Dürkheim, Neustadt an der Weinstraße, and Landau in Rhineland-Palatinate. Before 1993, it was known as Rhine Palatinate . With under cultivation in 2008, the region is the second largest wine region in Germany after Rheinhessen...

 and Rheinhessen

Rheinhessen

Rhenish Hesse refers to the part of the former Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt located west of the Rhine river and now part of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is a hilly countryside largely devoted to vineyards, therefore it is also called the "land of the thousand hills." Its larger towns include:...

 regions in Germany with some experimental plantings in Washington State. However, as is the case with most white German "new crosses", plantings within Germany have decreased considerably in recent years. In 2006, only 112 hectares (276.8 acre) of plantings remained, down from 255 hectares (630.1 acre) in 1999.

Several vineyards in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 also grow Ehrenfelser, including at least Cedar Creek, Lake Breeze, Gray Monk, Gehringer Brothers, Mount Boucherie and Summerhill. The grape tends to ripen earlier and produce higher yields than Riesling but its quality is not on par with that of this, its parent grape.

The variety normally consistently produces grapes of at least Kabinett

Kabinett

Kabinett , or sometimes Kabinettwein , is a German language wine term for a wine which is made from fully ripened grapes of the main harvest, typically picked in September, and are usually made in a light style...

 level ripeness and tends to produce well in vineyards where Riesling has difficulties.

Ehrenfelser derives its name from the Burg Ehrenfels

Burg Ehrenfels (Hessen)

Ehrenfels Castle is a ruined castle above the Rhine Gorge near the town of Rüdesheim am Rhein in Hesse, Germany. It is located on the steep eastern bank of the river amid extended vineyards...

 ruins located on the Rhine near Rüdesheim. It is also known under the synonym Geisenheim 9-93.

Ehrenfelser was crossed with Reichensteiner

Reichensteiner

Reichensteiner is a white wine grape that is mainly grown in Germany) and England), although New Zealand also grows a small quantity. It is a cross between Müller-Thurgau and Madeleine Angevine x Calabreser Froehlich, and was first bred in Germany during 1939.In England, it is the 2nd most grown...

 to create Ehrenbreitsteiner

Ehrenbreitsteiner

Ehrenbreitsteiner is a white wine grape variety of German origin. It was created by Helmut Becker at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in 1964, by crossing the varieties Ehrenfelser and Reichensteiner...

.