The monument erected for Queen Victoria's naming of a vineyard

A weathered grey sandstone monument rises from a south-facing slope in the Hochheim am Main vineyards. It stands about five meters tall, topped with four small corner turrets that adorn its Tudor-style superstructure. Below it, the Taunus-Eisenbahn railway passes directly.

The site is the Königin-Viktoria-Berg, a vineyard covering only five hectares. It earned its name on December 5, 1850, when Queen Victoria granted the distinction of naming the vineyard after her. The gesture followed a journey she took through German lands starting August 10, 1845, with Prince Albert. During that trip, she kept an original diary, recording her travels.

In the mid-19th century, Hochheimer wine was known in England as Hock wine. Georg Michael Pabstmann, a local grower who owned the vineyard in 1850, sent wine to the English royal court. He marketed his output in London as Rhine wines and Queen Victoria-Bergweine through a wine agency. The connection between the British throne and the local vines led to the commissioning of this memorial.

Architect Ernst Gladbach designed the monument, which was built by the Decker brothers from Mainz. It was inaugurated on May 24, 1854, the day of Queen Victoria's 35th birthday. The front of the stone bears the royal coat of arms with its lion and unicorn, alongside the motto Dieu et Mon Droit. An inscription explains that the stone was erected by Pabstmann as a thankful memory for the Queen's grace in naming the vineyard. On the back, a relief depicts a wine press surrounded by vines, crowned with an English crown and the words Windsor Castle V. Dec. MDCCCL.

Around the base, an English-style garden was laid out by director Karl Friedrich Thelemann. To the south, a spring feeds into a basin. While the monument was damaged by bombs in 1945, it remains a landmark of the region. It is rumored that the saying 'Good Hock keeps off the doc' originates from Queen Victoria's visit to Hochheim.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons