It was probably the Romans who first introduced vines to the "strata montana". The earliest records of viticulture in the Bergstrasse region are from the 8th century (Lorsch Imperial Abbey). Following the 1971 wine law reform, Hessian Bergstrasse became an independent winegrowing region and today it is the smallest of Germany's 13 wine regions. It consists of two separate geographical areas: Starkenburg, south of Darmstadt, comprises the towns of Alsbach, Zwingenberg, Bensheim and Heppenheim, while the "Odenwald wine island" is the area in and around Gross-Umstadt and Rossdorf.