Location and Classification
Steinacker is an officially registered single-vineyard site in the municipality of Kallstadt in the winegrowing region Pfalz. The official site number is 820713; the vineyard register for 2024 lists a planted area of 122.1 hectares. The VDP lists the Kallstadter Steinacker as VDP.ERSTE LAGE®.
Topography and Soils
The site is located on a high plateau with a south-easterly aspect, at an altitude of 160 to 240 metres and with a slope gradient of about ten per cent. The essential rocks named in the VDP site profile are limestone marl and solid limestone. A municipal soil profile describes a Parabraunerde-Rigosol from Quaternary terrace gravel loam with deep, strongly gravelly loam-sand soil and gravelly-loamy deposits. The soil is water-permeable, stores enough water, warms up well and has good nutrient supply; the high proportion of gravel limits the effective rooting volume.
History and Grape Varieties
Wine from Kallstadter Steinacker has been documented in trade since 1270. Riesling is the grape variety of the site, classified by the VDP. For individual wines, Riesling and Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) from Weingut Rings are also documented; this does not allow a complete statement of varieties for the entire site.
Wine Style and Vinification
Steinacker Riesling is described as fresh and mineral, with lively acidity, clear, fine fruit and usually a medium body. The documented expressions range from fine off-dry to fruity; Weingut Rings characterises its Riesling as taut and salty-mineral, from a cool-climate site with a very dry, calcareous soil. For this wine, cover cropping with buckwheat, oil radish and clover, natural manuring with horse manure, selective leaf work, low yields, hand-harvesting, whole-bunch pressing, spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts, and ageing on the lees in stainless steel and large wooden barrels are documented.
