Rottendorf

Rottendorf is a municipality in the Würzburg district in Franconia and lies on the eastern edge of the district, about eight kilometres from the Würzburg city centre. The municipal area extends over elevations of approximately 233 to 283 metres above sea level. Geologically, the area between Kürnach, Estenfeld and Rottendorf is described as featuring shallow hollows with Keuper formations.

The Kehlberg east of Rottendorf is the only registered vineyard site within the municipal area and also includes the Reißbach area. The vineyard area is about 1.2 hectares. One plot lies above the Reißbach on Hasenberg and is oriented to the south-west; further plots are located to the north of the industrial estate on Hühnleinsberg and Kehlberg with a south-easterly orientation.

At Kehlberg, Silvaner, Johanniter, Domina, Regent, Cabernet Dorsa, Bacchus and Müller-Thurgau have been documented. In addition, there are five documented vine stocks of the Putzscheere variety, described as a unique occurrence within the Franconian winegrowing region. A Silvaner plot planted in 1954 with ungrafted vines was modernised in 2010 by removing every second row and by installing a new trellis wire system about two metres high. A younger Silvaner plot was worked to about one metre deep before planting; the LWG clone Wü-9929 is used there, and the area also serves as a propagation vineyard of the Bavarian State Institute for Viticulture and Horticulture.

Winegrowing in Rottendorf has been documented as far back as a record from around 1025. The vineyard orders of 1546 list Kehlberg as an established winegrowing district. In 1885, the Rottendorf vineyards still covered about 41 hectares until fungal diseases and phylloxera reduced the area to roughly seven hectares by 1907. Kehlberg was entered into the official vineyard directory in 1989 and is designated as a registered vineyard site without large-scale classification within the Qualitätsweinbauregion Franconia in the MainSüden area.