VOLCANO. LOESS. MEDITERRANEAN WEATHER.
Salwey winery can be found in Germany’s sunniest region in southwest of Germany, in the heart of the so-called Kaiserstuhl, an extinguished volcanic belt.
The 35ha-vineyards are surrounded by the Alsatian Vosges Mountains in the west and the Black Forest Mountains in the east. The climate is strongly influenced by the Rhine valley and warm winds from Burgundy. Approximately 1800 hours of sun a year, adequate rainfalls and winds create a pleasant Mediterranean weather. This makes the Kaiserstuhl home to rare species like green lizards, bee-eaters, cactus and figs.
13-15 Million years ago, the soil has been influenced by eruptions, movements of tectonic plates (Rheingraben) and sand storms coming all the way from Africa. Today, remnants of this past like different lava, magma, volcanic stones and loess create a unique soil mineralization and terroir composition.
This gives each wine its very own character.
THE NATURE RESERVE IN OUR VINEYARDS
Whilst being once a gravel stone quarry, it is now one of the best protected nature reserves of the region. It is located right in the middle of Kirchberg in a very exposed part of the volcanic landscape.
In the early 2000’s, Wolf-Dietrich Salwey purchased the volcano cone together with the former factory grounds and grinding plant from 1902.
After reconstructing the area and rebuilding the original steep slopes, a part became our top location Kirchberg-VDP.GROSSE LAGE®.
Today, there is also the site of our administration, production and warehouse. The quarry itself is home of a large variety of special species, such as falcons, eagle-owls or orchids now.
It is a good example how vineyards and natural conversation can go along.
Kirchberg inside - Konrad Salwey at the entrance of the former quarry.
Now it's a home for falcons, eagle-owls or orchids.
Historic stone mill, built1902.
2021 it needed to get demolished because of a great danger of collapse.
