Schloßberg

The Schloßberg lies on the Staufen Castle Hill in Staufen im Breisgau, in the foothill zone of the Black Forest in the Markgräflerland and thus in Baden. The striking, basin- or cone-shaped foothill rises above the historic town. The vineyard areas are located below the castle ruins on steep slopes facing south and south-west.

The Schlossberg is a tilted fragment of foothills around 500 metres north-west of the Black Forest boundary fault. Main Rhaetian? forms a resistant covering layer over softer mid-Jurassic layers; on the west side there is tertiary conglomerate. For plots, shell limestone and yellow slate with iron-bearing minerals are described. The exposed site receives intensive sunshine and cooling winds from the Rhine plain.

The vineyard areas are divided up by walls, small terraces, stone steps and drainage openings. Their fine-grained structure has been largely preserved since the 18th century; a cadastral plan from 1772 records vines on the south-west, south and east slopes. Viticulture on the Staufen Castle Hill has been documented for at least since the 17th century. The steep terraces are still cultivated by hand on a considerable scale.

Documented varieties include Gutedel, Riesling, Weißburgunder, Grauburgunder, Spätburgunder, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Site wines include dry Gutedel, Riesling, Weißburgunder, Grauburgunder and Spätburgunder as well as white and red wines with designations as quality wine and Prädikatswein. Among other things, handlese (hand harvest) in small crates is described, along with gentle processing using the gravity method, natural clarification of white must, yeast storage as well as long maceration times and reductive ageing in wooden casks. A Grauburgunder was fermented partly spontaneously in a 500-litre cask and partly in a stainless-steel tank.