The German oenologist and viticulturist Rudolf Goethe (1843-1911) attended two horticultural schools, Reutlingen and Obergobitz (near Dresden). From 1869 he was active as a breeder of table grapes and dwarf fruit. In 1874 he was appointed director of the fruit and horticultural school Brumath near Grafenburg (Alsace) and in 1879 director of the "Königlich Preußische Lehranstalt für Obst- und Weinbau" in Geisenheim, which was opened in 1872. In Geisenheim he established the professional grafting of vines and founded the Vine Grafting Station Geisenheim in 1890. Among other things, he produced outdoor grafting and established the first vine cutting gardens in Germany with rootstocks grown from seed. Goethe cultivated seedlings and created new rootstocks, of which the "1 G" and especially the "26 G" are still important in viticulture today.
Rudolf Goethe was chairman of the Prussian Vine Improvement Commission and the fruit and viticulture department of the DLG (German Agricultural Society) and promoted the expansion of the Geisenheim Teaching Institute. His extensive research results were published, most notably the publications "Atlas für den Weinbau Deutschlands", "Österreichs wertvolle Tafeltrauben", "Anweisungen zur Veredelung der Reben auf amerikanischen Unterlagen", "Handbuch der Tafeltrauben-Kultur" and, together with his brother Hermann Goethe Hermann (1837-1911), the "Atlas der für den Weinbau Deutschlands und Oesterreichs werthvollsten Traubensorten". His son-in-law Dr. Julius Wortmann (1856-1925) was both his successor as head of the Prussian Vine Improvement Commission and of the Geisenheim Institute.
Rudolf Goethe: From author unknown - Biographies of Pomologists, Public domain, Link
