Tettnang
We continue our tour of hop-growing regions with this famous German region: Tettnang!
A little bit of geography
Tettnang is a town in Germany , located in the state of Baden-Württemberg and in the Swabia region. It is situated 7 kilometers from Lake Constance and in the hinterland of Lake Constance.
The town is at an altitude of 70 meters, offering a panoramic view of the Schwäbische Meer (the Swabian Sea, i.e., Lake Constance) and the Alpine chain towards the peaks of Austria and Switzerland . The eastern part of Tettnang is located in the Allgäu region.
The hop-producing region is located around the town of Tettnang itself and the surrounding villages, on the youngest moraines of the northern shores of Lake Constance at an altitude of 350m. The landscape varies between plains, fertile valleys and hills.
The history of hops in Tettnang
The first mention of “Hops” in Tettnang dates back to 1150, then nothing more until the 19th century.
Compared to other German regions, hop cultivation in Tettnang was quite late. Several years of poor harvests, widespread rinderpest, and damage from the Napoleonic Wars created a major agricultural crisis that reached the ears of King Wilhelm I. In 1819, the royal government of Württemberg passed a decree exempting farmers involved in hop cultivation from taxes, and in 1822 it ordered the first trials in Hohenheim.
Thus, seven citizens of the town, whose names still appear on a commemorative plaque, and the young doctor Dr. Fidelis von Lentz, who worked in Tettnang (“Where vines grow, hops must also thrive!”), took the initiative and, in 1844, planted the first experimental gardens in Tettnang.
At the time when Fidelis von Lentz recommended the cultivation of hops, more than 300 hectares of vines and only three hectares of hops were cultivated in the region of Tettnang, then a small town.
Around this same time, King Wilhelm I of Württemberg demanded that standard models of hop fields be established, and it is known that around 1877, a certain Friedrich Wirth cultivated 12 hectares of hops in Kaltenberg, a representation of which is shown below:
Within a decade, the area devoted to hops reached 91 hectares and, ten years later (1874), it far exceeded viticulture with 400 hectares. The continued decline of viticulture was accompanied by an expansion of hop cultivation, which reached approximately 650 acres in 1884 and fluctuated between 550 and 700 hectares at the turn of the century and during the two world wars.
Israel Friedrich Wirth, from the Kaltenberg estate (nicknamed “Hopfenburg” or “Hops Castle”), was another pioneer and fervent advocate of hop cultivation in Tettnang during this period.
He is credited with a number of inventions, such as hop drying, trellis construction, cultivation equipment, etc., which he compiled in his “Wirths Hopfenbuch” published in 1875.
Also in 1875, he organized the first German hop exhibition in Tettnang, launched quality competitions and regularly won gold medals for the best aromatic hops from Tettnang in international competitions.
After the First World War, in 1921/1922, there were 1200 hectares under cultivation, representing 10% of German production.
World War II exacerbated this decline, and by 1950, Tettnang had only 471 hectares under hop cultivation. After this date, production gradually increased, reaching 1,000 hectares in the 1970s, making Tettnang the third-largest hop-producing region in Germany after Hallertau and Spalt. Tettnang even surpassed Spalt a short time later.
After 1945, when state-controlled hop cultivation ended, Tettnang also developed on the international stage and became a recognized producer of top-quality aromatic hops.
In 1947, producers organized themselves for the first time within the newly formed Tettnang Hop Producers Association.
The years 1950 to 1970 were marked by increasing mechanization. In 1956, the first four hop harvesters arrived in Tettnang. By 1959, the Tettnang region had reached a record number of active producers, with 1,382 hop farms, even though each farm only covered 0.57 hectares (for a total of 785 hectares). 1973 is considered a pivotal year for hop cultivation and research, thanks to the establishment of the Tettnang-Straß Hop Research Station, managed by the State of Baden-Württemberg and still operational today.
The rigorous and systematic selection of Tettnang variety clones and the world’s first production of virus-free hop suckers in 1984 are just a few examples of his work, which today forms the basis of the region’s competitiveness. In 1975, the Tettnang Hop Growers Association was founded, which merged with HVG Elbe-Saale and HVG Hallertau to form HVG Hopfenverwertungsgenossenschaft in 2001. Thanks to successful exports to the United States and Asia, the Tettnang region reached its peak in 1997 with 1,659 hectares under cultivation.
In 2010, after ten years of trials, Tettnang obtained protection for its brand in the form of a “protected geographical indication” (PGI) issued by the European Union in Brussels.
It is described as having:
A subtle aroma and delicate bitterness give the beers a distinctive character and reflect, with every sip, the unique landscape that stretches between the northern shore of Lake Constance and the Allgäu region.
A local culture that is part of the heritage
To soak up the energy of the place and how hops are part of its history, the YouTube channel dedicated to the hops of this region offers a video of< 10 minutes that sets the mood.
For non-German speakers, the pictures will speak for themselves 😉
Since 2024, Tettnang has also launched an initiative involving planting hop vines in the streets of the city center to highlight how this plant is an “iconic cultural element” of the territory. A disease devastated the plants, preventing a harvest in 2025, but the commitment remains strong to try again in 2026!
What are the varieties of the region?
Aromatic “Noble” Hops
Dual Hops
bittering hops
A land of hops, the Tettnang region is internationally renowned for the quality of its produce; those who use it can attest to that 😉
If you would like more information on hop cultivation in general, we have written an article on its origins, here .
