The Bremen Ratskeller is the council wine cellar (German: "Ratskeller") of the Townhall of Bremen. Since it was erected in the year 1405, German wines were stored and sold there. With its history over 600 years the Ratskeller of Bremen is one of the oldest wine cellars of Germany, furthermore the oldest wine barrel of Germany, a wine from Rüdesheim which is dated 1653, is stored here.

In the cellar there has long been a traditional tavern and today a large part of it is a gourmet restaurant.

History
Since 1330 the Council of Bremen held the privilege of white wine which was valid until 1815. No citizen should sell wine without the permission of the Council. All wines had to be stored in the Cellar of the Council. The purpose was to control the prices and the payment of taxes.

With about 650 varieties the Ratskeller has the world's greatest selection of German wines exclusively, even in total there are about 1,200 different spirits available.

Rooms of the Cellar
In front of the Bacchus
Hauff's Hall
The Rose Cellar
The Rooms for the Senate of Bremen and the Kaiser
The Bacchus Cellar
Treasure Room

Famous Guests
Johannes Brahms
Otto von Bismarck
Max Bruch
Hoffmann von Fallersleben
Arthur Fitger
Theodor Fontane
Nikolai Gogol
Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries
Wilhelm Hauff
Gerhart Hauptmann
Heinrich Heine
Helmuth von Moltke the Elder
Richard Strauss
Richard Wagner
Karl Maria von Weber
Kaiser Wilhelm I.
Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Literature
Hermann Entholt: The Ratskeller in Bremen. Translated from the German by Harold Styring, Bremen 1930.

The Ratskeller, the "Cellar of Rathaus", is the "exquisite foundation" of the Gothic Rathaus. Since 1405, wine has been served here. Today, visitors can choose from around 600 different wines, all of which, without exception, originate from German wine-growing areas. Majestic, giant, old wine casks with opulent carvings give the main room a distinctive ambience. The oldest cask is from 1723.

Guests sit at hefty, long, wooden tables, order a "Schoppen" (a glass of wine) or select from the 60-page wine list. For a more intimate setting, it is possible to have a fine meal served in one of the so called "Prioelken". These are small, semicircular rooms built in 1600. Originally each "Prioelkin" was made comfortable by the warmth of its own oven.

In the so called Hauff Cellar, the poet Wilhelm Hauff was inspired to write his well-known novella "Fantasies in Bremen's Ratskeller" (1827). Presumably under the influence good wine from Ratskeller, the painter Max Slevogt was stirred to depict these stories in humorous frescoes which still decorate the walls today. The Hauff Celler as well as the Bacchus Cellar were originally built for wine storage. In the meantime they are open for guests.

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Wine is an alcoholic beverage produced by the fermentation of grapes and grape juice. Wine-like beverages can also be produced by the fermentation of other fruits and flowers (fruit or country wines), barley (barley wine), rice (sake), honey (mead), and even herbs (Chinese wine). However, in such cases a qualifier is often legally required (e.g., "elderberry wine"). The English word wine and its equivalents in other languages are protected by law in many jurisdictions.

Etymology
The word wine comes from the Old English win, which derives from the Proto-Germanic *winam which was an early borrowing from the Latin vinum, (which can mean either the "wine" or the "vine"), from Aeolic Greek Fο?νος, (vinos ).

Early history
Wine residue has been identified by Patrick McGovern's team at the University Museum, Pennsylvania, in ancient pottery jars. Records include jars from the Pottery Neolithic (5400-5000 BC) site of Hajji Firuz Tepe in the Zagros Mountains of present-day Iran and from Late Uruk (3500-3100 BC) occupation at the site of Uruk, in Mesopotamia[2]. The identifications are based on the identification of tartaric acid and tartrate salts using a form of infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). These identifications are regarded with caution by some biochemists because of the risk of false positives, particularly where complex mixtures of organic materials, and degradation products, may be present. The identifications have not yet been replicated in other laboratories.

Wine is usually made from one or more varieties of the European species, Vitis vinifera. When one of these varieties, such as Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, or Merlot, for example, is used as the predominant grape (usually defined by law as a minimum of 75 or 85%) the result is a varietal, as opposed to a blended wine. Blended wines are in no way inferior to varietal wines; indeed, some of the world's most valued and expensive wines from the Bordeaux, Rioja or Tuscany regions, are a blend of several grape varieties of the same vintage.

Wine can also be made from other species or from hybrids, created by the genetic crossing of two species. Vitis labrusca, Vitis aestivalis, Vitis muscadinia, Vitis rupestris, Vitis rotundifolia and Vitis riparia are native North American grapes, usually grown for eating in fruit form or made into grape juice, jam, or jelly, but sometimes made into wine, eg. Concord wine (Vitis labrusca species). Although generally prohibited by law in traditional wine regions, hybrids are planted in substantial numbers in cool-climate viticultural areas.

Hybrids are not to be confused with the practice of grafting. Most of the world's vineyards are planted with European vinifera vines that have been grafted onto North American species rootstock. This is common practice because North American grape species are resistant to phylloxera. Grafting is done in every wine-producing country of the World except for Chile, which has yet to be exposed to the bug.

The variety of grape(s), aspect (direction of slope), elevation, and topography of the vineyard, type and chemistry of soil, the climate and seasonal conditions under which grapes are grown, the local yeast cultures altogether form the concept of "terroir." The range of possibilities lead to great variety among wine products, which is extended by the fermentation, finishing, and aging processes. Many small producers use growing and production methods that preserve or accentuate the aroma and taste influences of their unique terroir.

However, flavor differences are not necessarily a desirable quality for large producers of table wine or more affordable wines, where consistency is more important for mass-market wine brands. Their producers will try to minimize differences in sources of grapes, hide any hint of often-unremarkable "terroirs", or climatically under-performing harvest years, by: blending harvests of various years and vineyards; pasteurizing the grape juice in order to kill indigenous yeasts (to be replaced with "choice" cultivated yeasts); and using flavor additives.