Location and landscape
Eichstetten lies on the eastern edge of the Kaiserstuhl in Baden-Württemberg, in the Upper Rhine Plain between the Black Forest and the Vosges. The municipality stretches from about 198 to 520 metres in altitude; the highest point is the Eichelspitze. The elongated valley includes wooded slopes, vineyard terraces and lower-lying areas along the Dreisam, Mühlbach and Altwasser.
Climate and soils
Eichstetten is located in a particularly warm and sunny part of Germany. The vineyard landscape combines volcanic parent rock with loess and loess-derived soils. At the Kaiserstuhl, loess deposits can reach a regional thickness of about 30 metres; at the Herrenbuck, calcareous loess lies over soils formed from the weathering of volcanic rock.
Viticulture
On the municipality’s area of 1,231 hectares, approximately 363 hectares are devoted to vineyards. The Herrenbuck is a registered single vineyard within the Großlage Vulkanfelsen in the Kaiserstuhl region. The terraces facing south and south-east are planted, among other varieties, with Spätburgunder, Grauburgunder, Weißburgunder, Müller-Thurgau, Riesling, Muskateller, Scheurebe, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and selected mushroom-resistant varieties. Descriptions of the site relate the combination of volcanic and loess soils to fresh, fruit-forward white wines, as well as full-bodied, fruit-led Spätburgunder. For a documented Herrenbuck Grauburgunder, dry maturation, dark loess clay soil with clay content and a concentrated, structured style are mentioned.
History
Eichstetten is first documented in 737 under the name Eistat in a charter connected with the Abbey of Murbach. Archaeological evidence also includes a Roman manor farm and a Merovingian-era cemetery. In 1416, the place came under Badish rule; in 1418 it received market rights. An official notice from 2023 assigned plot 10919 of the single vineyard Herrenbuck and the Großlage Vulkanfelsen.
