Location and extent
The Golden Wagon is a legally registered single vineyard within the Großlage Lößnitz. The vineyard area belonging to Radebeul extends from the Ravensberg near Eduard-Bilz-Straße to the Bunkerberg in the Lößnitzgrund and covers about 28 hectares.
Climate, terrain and soils
The site is located in the Elbe valley area of Radebeul in Saxony, whose valley gradient is described by the Saxon wine-growing authorities as favourable for viticulture in the northern latitudes of Saxony. The Golden Wagon includes both flatter plots and steep terraced vineyard sites, including a vineyard north-west of Hoflößnitz and a vineyard south of the Spitzhaus. The historical terraces are laid out with dry-stone walls.
Documented soil profiles classify the vineyard soils as anthropogenic Rigosols. They contain weathered syenite, loess clay, loess-derived silt and, in some cases, colluvial silt; the substrates range from sandy gravel to gravelly loam and silt. For the sites examined, potential radiation values of about 2,217 to 2,273 kWh/m² are given.
Grape varieties and wine-making
For the steep-slope sites in the area of the Golden Wagon, Riesling, Weißburgunder, Traminer and Spätburgunder are mentioned. The Karl Friedrich Aust winery cultivates these there as well as at other Radebeul locations, in addition also Grauburgunder, Müller-Thurgau, Bacchus and Goldriesling. Riesling and Spätburgunder from the structured soils of the Golden Wagon are developed as estate wines. Wines from the surrounding vineyards ripen for several months in vaulted cellars from the period around 1720, partly also in barrique barrels.
Name history
The name goes back to a vineyard by the Spitzhaus staircase, which was first documented in 1710 as the “Golden Wagon”.
