Location and landscape
Ilbesheim near Landau is a winegrowing community in the southern part of the German Wine Route in the Pfalz, about five kilometres south-west of Landau. Above the village, the Kleine Kalmit rises to a height of around 270 to 272 metres on the eastern edge of the Palatinate Forest Nature Park.
Geology and viticulture
The Kleine Kalmit is a Tertiary elevation at the edge of the Upper Rhine Graben. Its subsoil consists of limestone of land snails and Cerithia, as well as marl layers. In the Kamit Kalmit, marl, loess, clay and a thin humus layer lie above the Tertiary land-snail limestone. The documented main grape varieties are Riesling, Weißburgunder and Spätburgunder.
Historical winegrowing culture
The single-vineyard Kalmit, spanning across municipalities, was laid out in 2008 following the involvement of Ilbesheim winemakers. The historical Kalmit vineyard comprises 2,900 square metres on the south-west slope of the Kleine Kalmit in the Rittersberg. There, 19 training forms of the vine are presented, documented from Antiquity to the modern era. The planting is with Weißburgunder.
History of the place
Ilbesheim was first mentioned in 760 as a Frankish settlement called Ulvinsheim, and has borne the current name since 1828. The Kleine Kalmit was used for extracting limestone from the 14th century up to the 1950s; the lime was fired in kilns in Ilbesheim and Arzheim. On 7 November 1704, a peace treaty between Bavaria and Austria was signed in the Ilbesheim town hall.
