Ölberg

The Ölberg is the Ehrenstetter Ölberg on the territory of Ehrenkirchen in the Markgräflerland, the wine-growing region Baden. As part of the Schönberg group, the mountain reaches around 416 metres above sea level. The vineyard plots are on slopes facing south and south-east; the historic vineyard is among the few pure south-facing sites in the Markgräflerland.

The soils of the vineyard consist of limestone, which is covered by loam and loess. On the south-eastern steep slope, oolitic limestone and calcareous marl from the Middle Jurassic main Rogenstein formation are exposed. Historic vineyard terraces are supported by limestone dry-stone walls; between some plots there are open areas of grass.

For the Ehrenstetter Ölberg, location-specific wines made from Pinot noir (Spätburgunder) and White Burgundy (Weißburgunder) are documented. The dry wines bear the vineyard designation Ehrenstetter Ölberg. The historic Alte Ölberg was excluded from the comprehensive soil cultivation and land consolidation in Baden’s wine growing in the 1960s. For a location-specific Pinot noir, a 24-month maturation in wooden casks is documented.

The Ölberg was designated as the Ölberg Ehrenstetten nature reserve by a Freiburg administrative ordinance dated 14 January 1996; the protected area covers around 23.9 hectares. Within the protected area, agricultural use, including replanting of cleared vineyard plots, may only be carried out in the previous manner, to the previous extent and with the previous intensity. The historic vineyard area Himmelsstäpfele is cared for by volunteers from the Arbeitskreis Ortsgeschichte Ehrenkirchen. A historical photograph documents the Ehrenstetter Ölberg on 29 August 1962.