Oestrich-Winkel () is a town with roughly 12,000 inhabitants in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany.
Geography
Location
Oestrich-Winkel, which culturally belongs to the Rheingau region, lies on the Rhine River, 19 km west-southwest of Wiesbaden and 17 km west of Mainz. It is, as a part of the Rheingau wine region, the largest winegrowing town of Hesse.
The coordinates 50°N, 8°E lie right in the stadtteil of Winkel, whose name, coincidentally, is German for “angle”.
Neighbouring municipalities
Oestrich-Winkel borders in the north on the town of Lorch and the municipalities of Welterod (Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate), Heidenrod and Schlangenbad; in the east on the town of Eltville; in the south, across the Rhine, on the town of Ingelheim (Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate) and in the west on the town of Geisenheim.
Territorial structure
Oestrich-Winkel as a municipality consists of four Stadtteile: Hallgarten Mittelheim Oestrich (seat of municipal administration) Winkel Hallgarten as the only one of these has the status as an Ortsbezirk.
History
Oestrich-Winkel was founded on the 1st of July, 1972 by the merger of the municipalities of Mittelheim, Oestrich and Winkel; it was further enlarged by incorporation of Hallgarten in 1977 by law. From the very beginning Oestrich-Winkel was entitled by state government to lead the designation Stadt (town).
The double-barrelled name Oestrich-Winkel has already had a long tradition as the name of the only train station for the East Rhine Railway between Geisenheim and Hattenheim.
Politics
Mayors
Kay Tenge (CDU) was elected in 2019 for mayor. Former mayors were: 2013–2019: Michael Heil (CDU) 1995–2013: Paul Weimann (CDU) 1989–1995: Heinz-Dieter Mielke (SPD) 1972–1989: Klaus Frietsch (SPD)
Town council
The last municipal elections, taking place every five years, yielded the following results:
Town partnerships
The town of Oestrich-Winkel maintains partnerships with the following two places and one military unit: Tokaj, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County, Hungary Denicé, Rhône, France 2./ Fernmeldebataillon 283 (roughly, “signal corps”) in Lahnstein.
Coat of arms
The town's arms might be described thus: Gules a Z reversed with cross stroke argent between two mullets of six Or.
The Z is a variant of a common German heraldic charge known in German as a Wolfsangel or Doppelhaken, and its appearance here apparently refers to its use for dealing with wolves in earlier times (the Wolfsangel is believed to have been used as a wolf trap). The arms themselves go back to the 17th century.
Culture and sightseeing
Wine culture
Oestrich-Winkel is characterized by winegrowing. The following places are cultivated:
Oestrich: Lenchen, Doosberg, Klosterberg, Pfaffenberg
Mittelheim: Edelmann, St. Nikolaus, Goldberg
Winkel: Dachsberg, Hasensprung, Gutenberg, Jesuitengarten, Bienengarten, Schloß Vollrads Hallgarten: Jungfer, Würzgarten, Schönhell, Hendelberg, Mehrhölzchen
Sightseeing
The Oestricher Kran, Oestrich-Winkel's main landmark, is a former wine-loading crane from the 18th century for loading and unloading ships. Completed in 1745, it was working until 1926. Inside the crane are two treadmills in each of which two men used their body weight to work a winch, which could then lift loads onto or off ships. It is the last preserved wine-loading crane on the Rhine's right bank. There were once also such cranes in Lorch, Eltville and Rüdesheim. These cranes can still be found in existence along the Rhine at Andernach (stone; loaded tuff, millstones and wine barrels) and Bingen (wood, loaded mainly wine barrels).
In Mittelheim is found one of Germany's oldest stone churches, St.-Aegidius-Basilika (“Saint Giles’s Basilica”).