Location and landscape
Steingrübler is an officially recorded wine-growing site in Varnhalt, a district of Baden-Baden, in the Ortenau wine-growing region in Baden. The vineyards lie on the west-facing slopes of the foothills of the Black Forest.
Climate and soils
The Ortenau, on the western edge of the Black Forest, is shaped by precipitation caused by orography. For Baden-Baden-Geroldsau, for the period 1961 to 1990, an average of 1,168 millimetres of rainfall and 9.5 °C are given for the year. Between Neuweier and Varnhalt, arkose sandstone and carbonaceous slate are exposed; the vineyard soils range from light, loamy sands to medium and heavy clay soils.
Wine and wine-growing history
In the locality, Steingrübler is particularly associated with Riesling. The Ortenau Riesling, also known as Klingelberger, is described as fresh and fruity, with a wide spectrum of fruit aromas. Winegrowing and wine trading have been among Varnhalt’s important means of earning a living for centuries; the local winery Nägelsförsterhof has been documented since 1588. Varnhalt is also one of the vine-growing villages with the historical right to bottle wine in a Bocksbeutel.
