Württemberg

The production area is located in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg in Germany. The vineyards cover 11,461 hectares of vines, which extend between Lake Constance and the Tauber valley below Rothenburg (Taubergrund). The geographical and climatic conditions are characterised by many river valleys. On its very winding course, the tributaries Rems, Enz, Kocher and Jagst flow towards the Neckar. On the river banks there are many southern slopes with widely spread vineyards. In summer there is enough sunshine to give strength and colour to red wines as well. Two thirds of the vineyards are steep or sloping. Heilbronn is the wine capital of Württemberg and to a certain extent also of Germany, as the DLG (German Agricultural Society) competition is held here every year. Weinsberg is home to a training and experimental institute for vine breeding, where August Herold (1902-1973) created some successful new varieties such as Dornfelder, Cabernet Cubin, Cabernet Dorio and Cabernet Dorsa.

Climate and soil

The soils are characterised by Keuper formations and on the middle Neckar by shell limestone islands. The climate is continental with hot summers, sunny autumns and frosty winters. The favourable microclimate along the Neckar and the shell limestone and Keuper soils are particularly suitable for red wines

Areas, municipalities and locations

The production area consists of six areas with 17 large vineyards and 207 individual vineyards. The Kocher-Jagst-Tauber area, named after three rivers, is located in the north and is the only area specialising in white wines. It is divided into the two major sites Kocherberg and Tauberberg. The Tauber valley contributes the section from Tauberzell to Creglingen, the rest belongs to other growing areas. The predominant soil type is shell limestone. Well-known winegrowing communities with their individual sites:

• Bieringen: Key Mountain
• Criesbach: castle stable, high mountain
• Dörzbach: Altenberg
• Elpersheim: Mönchsberg, Probstberg
• Herbolzheim: Hofberg
• Ingelfingen: High Mountain
• Kochersteinsfeld: Rosenberg
• Laudenbach: Sheep tracks
• Markelsheim: Mönchsberg, Propstberg
• Niedernhall: Altenberg, castle stable, narrow path, high mountain
• Reinsbronn: Red
• Schäftersheim: Klosterberg
• Weikersheim: Hardt, Karlsberg, Schafsteige, Schmecker

By far the largest and most important area of the Württembergische Unterland is divided into the nine large sites of Heuchelberg, Kirchenweinberg, Lindelberg, Salzberg, Schalkstein, Schozachtal, Stauffenberg, Stromberg and Wunnenstein. The vineyards are mainly located in the middle and lower Neckar valley, as well as heavily fragmented into many small areas east of the Neckar along the tributaries Bottwar, Murr and Schozach. The climatic conditions and soils in this area are somewhat different. The terraced vineyards on the river banks are characterised by shell limestone, those away from it by Keuper. Well-known wine-growing communities with their individual sites are

• Instead: Castle mountain, Wildeck castle, Sommerberg
• Beilstein: Steinberg, Wartberg
• Besigheim: rock garden, Wurmberg
• Bönnigheim: Kirchberg, Sonnenberg (Gewanne Schupen and Steingrüben)
• Brackenheim: Dachsberg, Mönchsberg, Schlossberg, Wolfsaugen, Zweifelberg
• Bretzfeld: Goldberg, kingdom of heaven
• Cleebronn: Michaelsberg
• Dimbach: Kingdom of heaven
• Ellenhofen: Ranzenberg, Wildenberg
• Erlenbach: Kayberg
• Flein: Altenberg, Eselsberg, Sonnenberg
• Güglingen: Kaiserberg
• Gündelbach: Steinbachhof, Wachtkopf
• Gundelsheim: Kingdom of heaven
• Häfnerhaslach: Heiligenberg
• Heilbronn: Sonnenberg, Stahlbühl, Stiftsberg, Wartberg
• Hohenbeilstein: Schlosswengert
• Hohenhaslach: Kirchberg, Klosterberg
• Höpfigheim: Königsberg
• Illingen: Forest pit, dump, chancery
• Ilsfeld: Rappen
• Kleinbottwar: Götzenberg, Lichtenberg, upper mountain, sweet mouth
• Running: Maiden, Catbiter, Riedersbückele
• Lehrensteinsfeld: Steinacker
• Löwenstein: summer mountain, welfare mountain
• Ludwigsburg: Neckarhälde
• Maulbronn: Closter vineyard, Eilfingerberg, Reichshalde
• Mühlhausen: dump, stone dump, Zuckerle
• Mundelsheim: Käsberg, Mühlbächer, Rozenberg
• Neckarsulm: Scheuerberg
• Neckar rooms: Götzhalde, church vineyard, rampart wall
• Neipperg: Grafenberg, Schlossberg, stone pit
• Nordheim: Grafenberg, Gräfenberg, Sonntagsberg
• Oberderdingen: Copper dump
• Oberstenfeld: Forest mountain, Lichtenberg
• Schozach: Red mountain, rogue blade
• Schützingen: Heiligenberg
• Schwaigern: Grafenberg, Ruthe, Sonnenberg
• Seven Calvary: Kingdom of Heaven
• Spielberg: Liebenberg
• Steinheim: Castle hill
• Talheim: High oak tree, castle mountain, sun mountain, monastery mountain
• Vaihingen: Dump
• Verrenberg: Goldberg, Verrenberg
• Weinsberg: Ranzenberg, Schemelsberg
• Willsbach: Dieblesberg
• Zuffenhausen: Mountain

The Remstal-Stuttgart area is located in the southeast of the growing area. The vineyards are mainly located up to 400 metres above sea level in the river valley of the Rems. It is divided into the five major sites Hohenneuffen, Kopf, Sonnenbühl, Wartbühl and Weinsteige. In this somewhat cooler and more rainy area, there is a certain Riesling tradition. Well-known winegrowing communities with their individual sites are:

• Bad Cannstadt: mountain, slag heap, Herzogenberg, Mönchberg, Mönchhalde, Zuckerle
• Beutelsbach: Altenberg, Burghalde, Sonnenberg
• Degerloch: Scharrenberg
• Esslingen: Castle, Kirchberg, Neckarhalde, Schenkenberg
• Fellbach: Gypsum, Goldberg, Herzogenberg, Lämmler, Mönchberg
• Gaisburg: Abelsberg
• Großheppach: stone pit, tub, Zügernberg
• Grunbach: Mountain dump, Klingle
• Hanweiler: Mountain, Maien
• Hebsack: Lichtenberg
• Kleinheppach: Greiner, Sonnenberg, Steingrüble
• Basket: mountain, summer dump, stone pit
• Obertürkheim: Kirchberg
• Pipe racker: Lenzenberg
• Rommelshausen: Häder, Mönchberg
• Schnait: Altenberg, Burghalde, Sonnenberg
• Schorndorf: Grafenberg
• Steinreinach: Hörnle
• Stetten: Bread water, Häder, Lindhälder, Mönchberg, Pulvermächer, Sonnenberg
• Strümpfelbach: Altenberg, Nonnenberg
• Stuttgart: war mountain, monk's dump, castle mountain
• Uhlbach: Goetzenberg
• Untertürkheim: Altenberg, gypsum, Herzogenberg, Mönchberg
• Winnenden: Mountain, Haselstein, Holzenberg
• Winterbach: Hungerberg

The Upper Neckar region is located in the south of the wine growing area with vineyards around Tübingen. The municipalities with their individual sites are Breitenholz with Hinterhalde; Entringen with Pfaffenberg; Kirschau with Sonnenhalden; Reutlingen with Sommerhalde; Rottenburg with Kapellenberg; Tübingen with Sonnenhalden; and Wendelsheim with Kapellenberg. The area of Bavarian Lake Constance includes the only major site Lindauer Seegarten with the communities and their individual sites Lindau with Spitalhalde; Nonnenhorn with Seehalde and Sonnenbichel; and Wasserburg-Hattnau with Weinhalde. The area of Württembergische Bodensee, which is free of large sites, only includes the two municipalities of Kreßbronn with Berghalde; and Ravensburg with Rauenegg.

List of vine varieties

Besides Ahr, Württemberg is one of the two German wine growing regions where considerably more red wines than white wines are produced. However, the proportion of red wine varieties has fallen slightly, as in many other growing regions. Compared to 2009, there were no major changes. The Trollinger is still in the lead. This "Swabian house grape", which does not occur at all in most other growing regions and is not potentially one of the top varieties, is grown in the highest quality sites. This is followed by Riesling and three other red wine varieties: Schwarzriesling, Limberger (Blaufränkisch) and Spätburgunder. A Württemberg speciality is the Schiller wine from white and red grapes. The status 2018 (0 = less than 0.5 ha):

Producers

The members of 70 winegrowers' cooperatives with a central winery in Moeglingen cultivate around 8,500 hectares, three quarters of the total area under vines, and therefore play a dominant role. Well-known producers are Adelmann, Aldinger Gerhard, Busch Karl, Collegium Wirtemberg, Dautel, Dolde Helmut, Doreas, Drautz-Able, Ellwanger Bernhard, Ellwanger Jürgen, Fellbacher Weingärtner, Friedauer, Fürst zu Hohenlohe-Oehringen, G.A. Heinrich, Graf Neipperg, Graf von Bentzel Sturmfeder, GravinO, Häge, Haidle Karl, Haidle Wolfgang, H. Bader, Heid Markus, Duke of Württemberg, Hirth - Rebhof, Kistenmacher-Hengerer, Knauß, Kuhnle Werner, Kurz-Wagner, Kusterer, Laicher, Medinger, Sankt Annagarten, Schäfer-Heinrich, Schäfer Reinhard, Schloßgut Hohenbeilstein, Schnaitmann, Schütz Benjamin, Schwegler Albrecht, Seyffer, Singer Julian, Sonnenhof, Steinbachhof, Wangler, Brackenheim, Cleebronn-Güglingen, Untertürkheim, Weinsberg, Wo der Hahn kräht, Wöhrwag and Zimmerle