Location on Lake Constance
Waterburg (Lake Constance) is a municipality in the Bavarian district of Lindau on the northern shore of Lake Constance. The vineyards belong, for administrative purposes, to the Bavarian Lake Constance sector of the wine-growing region Württemberg.
Vineyard sites and landscape
The documented vineyard sites include the Spitalhalde in Wasserburg as well as the Weinhalde in the municipal subdivisions of Hattnau and Hege. The vineyard plots are located on former lake terraces and in the undulating hilly country of West Allgäu, embedded in a landscape shaped by vineyards and orchards along Lake Constance.
Climate and soils
Lake Constance stores heat and influences the vineyards through daily lake and land winds. In addition, the alpine föhn over the Rhine Valley has an effect and promotes the rapid drying of the vines. The area receives up to around 1,200 millimetres of precipitation per year. The soils are characterised by fertile glacial weathering soils and, regionally, by terrace gravels and deposits from former glacier landscapes.
Winegrowing and history
In the Bavarian Lake Constance area, white, red and rosé wines, as well as Blanc de Noirs and Rotling, are produced. The white wines are described as finely structured and mineral, with good acidity; the red wines as finely fruited, with a soft structure and restrained tannins. The protected geographical indication Bayerischer Bodensee-Landwein has been registered since December 1983; the permitted maximum yield is 110 hectolitres per hectare. Winegrowing in Wasserburg was almost completely destroyed during the Swedish invasion and the associated destruction in 1647 in the Thirty Years’ War.
