Nothalten is a wine village located on the Alsace wine route and on the Véloroute of the Alsace vineyard (EuroVelo 5), in the department of Bas-Rhin, between the medieval town of Dambach-la-Ville and the chef- Place of the canton of Barr. It is located at 220 meters above sea level at the foot of the Ungersberg, sandstone mountain peak at 901 meters, in the heart of the classified site of Piedmont des Vosges. Its territory covers 440 hectares, most of which is an area of controlled designation of origin whose wine production is one of the best vintages of Alsace wines. Its land of reference is that of the Grand Cru Muenchberg, an area of 17.7 hectares, mainly planted with riesling, facing south and whose geographical configuration evokes that of an amphitheater.
The town is made up of two ancient villages: Nothalden and Zell. The archives contain a document in which the two boroughs are mentioned in 1099 under the title of Imperial Villages. Originally we find the names of Nodelt or Nothehalt and from the year 1262 the current name is adopted. The second village is cited in the thirteenth century. Towards the fourteenth century, the two localities are the property of the counts of Andlau and the bishop of Strasbourg who jointly exploit this territory. In the thirteenth century the castle of Boemstein was built, which fell into ruin in the 15th century. Today this castle is nothing more than a heap of ruins that is hardly visible.
The village of Nothalten is in the 12th century a place of meditation for the monks of the Abbey of Baumgarten who came to pray at the foot of the Zellberg whose name Zell means cell. They are probably at the origin of the planting of the vines in the sector. Their knowledge of vines and winemaking contributed to the renown and growth of the vineyard, as evidenced by documents found in the departmental archives of the Bas-Rhin. In these documents of the twelfth century there are other texts written concerning the relations which the monks maintained with the vine growers of Nothalten and their formations. The Muenchberg, which means monks' mountain and the Zellberg, are the authentic witnesses of that part of history that the monks of the time and today the winegrowers of Nothalten have been able to highlight.
