Ortsgemeinde Winningen

Finds from several millennia suggest that the fertile area has likely been continuously inhabited since the Neolithic period. A Roman villa above the village attests to its existence during the Roman era, while Merovingian graves serve as Frankish relics proving habitation in the early Middle Ages. In 865, Winningen was first mentioned in a document.

Since 1248, the village has been in the possession of the Counts of Sponheim and became Protestant in 1557 with them, being the only place in the vicinity to do so. Only a few years later, the residents of Winningen took a step that set them apart from their neighboring winegrowers under the electoral authorities. They cleverly exploited the financial weakness of their noble lord and bought their freedom from serfdom with a twelve-year special tax.
It was not until about 200 years later, with the downfall of the Electoral Palatinate following the French Revolution, that the Mosel winegrowers gained the same freedom. The Winningen ring wall, completed in 1583, was "three shoes wide and ten shoes high".

Of the former six gates, the Horn Gate is still well preserved, but there are also several beautiful old timber-framed buildings, with the notable feature that the timber is painted not in the Mosel-region's oxblood red but in the Rhine's black. The marketplace and the wine courtyard with their buildings are charming. Both squares are bustling during the well-known Mosel Festival, which is celebrated for ten days in Winningen and is said to be the oldest wine festival in Germany.

At the height, Winningen has an airfield and along the Mosel, a large yacht harbor.