Location and landscape
Markgröningen is a town in the district of Ludwigsburg in Baden-Württemberg, about 20 kilometres north-west of Stuttgart. The town lies at the transition between the Glems-Strudelbach plateau and the Langes Feld, both of which are assigned to the Strohgäu. For the area, an average annual temperature of about 9 °C and an average annual rainfall of about 650 millimetres are given.
The Langes Feld is characterised by high plateaux covered with loess clay. The valleys of Leudelsbach, Glems and Siegen, or Bergtal respectively, are deeply cut into the Upper Muschelkalk. On the steep slopes there are shallow, dry soils over exposed Upper Muschelkalk.
Viticulture and vineyard sites
The vineyards are located mainly on south-facing valley slopes and have been laid out as terraces with dry-stone walls. Historically, these locations were also used as sheep pastures. The Württembergisch Großlage Schalkstein comprises Markgröningen. The single-vineyard site of St. Johännser belongs to the Württembergisch Unterland area; the single-vineyard site St. Johännser comprises Markgröningen and Enzweihingen. The single-vineyard site Berg is also recorded in Markgröningen.
A local wine brochure documented around 30 hectares of vineyard area for 2005/06, mostly in small plots. Among those mentioned were the Gewanne St. Johännser, Hurst, Geist, Talhäuserberg and Mühlberg, as well as additional vineyards in Flohberg and Wannenberg. The wines were marketed under the name St. Johännser. For this period, Kerner and Riesling, Lemberger Weißherbst, Trollinger, Lemberger, Helfensteiner and Dornfelder, as well as a Spätburgunder Rosé, are documented.
History of viticulture
Between 1600 and 1700, the Markgröningen wine-growing area comprised about 300 hectares. At that time, numerous slopes on the Glems and Leudelsbach were terraced and planted with vines. The Upper Kelter from 1491 served as a compulsory press: subjects delivered their grapes in return for a share of the pressed wine for processing. The must was then taken to the nearby Schlosskeller for ripening.
The name St. Johännser is derived from a chapel dedicated to Saint John, which stood in the vineyards until the 16th century.
Cellars and cultivation
The Markgröningen winegrowers’ cooperative matured the local wine until the 1970 vintage in the Unteren Kelter. After joining the WZG in 1971, grapes were accepted in Markgröningen and partly pressed there, while further development and bottling took place in Möglingen. After the merger with the Rosswag-Mühlhausen cooperative cellar in 2005/06, the Markgröningen grapes were delivered to Rosswag and pressed there.
For the cultivation of the St. Johännser site, a airy canopy wall and fruit zone, ongoing monitoring for false and true mildew, and thinning where the growth is too heavy are documented.
