Viticulture in Westerhausen
The wine-growing area is located in Westerhausen, an incorporated district of the town of Thale in the Harz. Westerhausen has belonged to Thale since 1 September 2010. The vineyard site forms part of the growing region Saale-Unstrut.
Location and geology
The registered name of the single vineyard is Westerhäuser Königstein. The 2024 vineyard directory assigns it to the Mansfelder Seen area and lists the cadastral districts of Quedlinburg and Westerhausen. The vineyard plots lie on the south slope of the Königstein, an approximately 189 to 190-metre-high ridge in the northern Harz foreland. The ridge runs from the north-west to the south-east; its north-eastern flank is comparatively steep, while the south-west side falls more gently.
Rock and wine-growing climate
The Königstein is made up predominantly of hardened sandstone from the Lower Cretaceous. The resistant rock forms a cuesta-like ridge, which is locally also called Kamelfelsen. The south slope is cultivated as a vineyard despite its geographical separation from the core of viticulture in the region. The continental wine-growing climate of Saale-Unstrut brings warm, dry summers, cold winters, around 500 millimetres of annual rainfall and about 1,600 hours of sunshine per year. Winter and spring frosts are among the documented risks for viticulture.
History and cultivation
Viticulture on the Königstein began in 1988 with experimental plantings. In 1989, on the site of a former fruit orchard, a vineyard area of around 1,000 square metres was created; the first documented wines were bottled in 1991. After the expansion of the area and the establishment of production facilities, the local viticultural business was run full-time from 1995. Grapes varieties documented are Riesling, Spätburgunder, Dornfelder and Cabernet Mitos. Cultivation deliberately keeps yields low and involves only hand-harvesting; in the cellar, modern equipment and traditional maturation in wooden barrels are used.
