The South German Scarplands run from the river Main to the Swabian Jura and from the Rhine rift valley to the Franconian Jura. It is characterised by valleys carved deep into the landscape by rivers with flatter land above. The soil strata is very diverse. To the north, the scarpland is protected from cold air by the Central Uplands (Mittelgebirge), and benefits from a mild climate from the south. And in the heart of this richly endowed region lies the Felsengartenland.

As far back as a hundred years ago, the value of the steep slopes following the bends of the Neckar and Enz rivers was recognized for winegrowing.  

This led to a unique cultural landscape stamped by the winemaker´s craft, which not only produces excellent grape material but is also to this day a beautiful sight to behold. A typical feature are the sun-drenched slopes, which were cut into terraces to provide support for the vines and enable an even greater utilization of the light and warmth. The Felsengartenland has thus always provided the very best conditions for highly successful viticulture. By means of numerous quality-enhancing measures and approaches, this has further developed – especially in the last few decades - into a high-quality winegrowing culture which could well be unique in the heart of the Neckar region.

The profession of winegrower ( »Wengerter« in the Swabian dialect) calls for a large degree of enthusiasm, especially when the vineyards in question lie on the steep banks of the Neckar and Enz rivers. The growers of the Felsengartenkellerei (wine cooperative) are such enthusiasts, for many of them cultivate their grapes on the terraces of these steep slopes. In many families, winegrowing has been practiced over many generations and the care and attention devoted to the grapes is often the centre of everyday life in the family. And it is still mostly manual labour which characterises the grower´s daily life, from vine pruning to canopy management all the way through to the harvest. 

It is a life in rhythm with the vines, accompanied by many a hazard of nature, of effort and hard work but also of patience and commitment and a great deal of passion, indeed love for nature´s product, wine. But this passion is also what drives the ambition of every grower to be able to harvest the best possible grapes at the end of the wine year in the autumn – which is, as always, the most valuable prerequisite for exceptional wines. For a Felsengarten grower and his family, there is (almost) nothing nicer that the sight of plump, healthy grapes which shine - colourful and juicy - in the autumn sun and whose natural beauty is already a sign of what precious wines will emerge.

A large part of the grapes of the Felsengartenkellerei ripen on the steep slopes along both the Neckar and Enz rivers – a privilege of nature which gives the wines an invaluable advantage in terms of quality. For here on the perfectly shaped slopes, but also in the narrow valleys carved deep into the hillside, a unique microclimate provides perfect growing conditions for the vines. The slopes, often with a gradient of more than 50 percent, capture the intense sunlight reflected from the surface of the water. The dry stone walls and steps – created and maintained painstakingly by hand-, as well as the rocks in the terraces heat up on sunny days to temperatures of more than 70 degrees Celsius. 

This warmth is radiated back to the grapes at night, promoting excellent growth and perfect ripening, whereas the wide range of soils in the Felsengärten, composed (to varying degrees) of marl, clay, silt, keuper, loess and loam, provide the ideal base for complex, well-structured and full-bodied wines.

The fact that the superior terroir enjoyed by the grapes in these special sites can also present itself in the glass is due not least to the aforementioned passion of the growers, whose work on the slopes is strenuous, extremely labour-intensive and not without danger the whole year long.

Wine is a natural product and, consequently, nature is the supreme guardian of the quality. But it is the declared aim, the in-house goal of all growers and employees of the Felsengartenkellerei, to transform - year after year - the harvested grapes into the most perfect wines possible. Beginning in the vineyard, all quality-enhancing measures – from yield reduction to determining the ideal picking time for the different grape varieties – will have been implemented carefully and conscientiously to ensure that only the best grape material makes it to the press house.

Even though the Felsengartenkellerei is equipped with state-of-the-art machinery for optimal wine production, again only the human element is - in the end - able to exploit the given potential to the full. 

Our cellar team follows the process from grape to glass with meticulous care. All measures which are necessary to preserve the natural quality of the crop are exploited during this time. This calls for a high degree of sensory skills, but also just as much skilled craftsmanship and expertise, as well as a penchant for precision and perfection, to help the wines achieve the best – if possible the most perfect – expression and by doing so, preserve both the varietal aspects as well as the characteristics of the terroir. The vinification process can take from several weeks to years. Every wine receives the time it needs to develop in the best possible way. The finest examples are then aged mostly for months in large oak barrels or barriques. Quite often these have been crafted from oak from the forests around Besigheim.

Regarding the product range philosophy, the Felsengartenkellerei follows the preamble of the company, which states that wine quality has to be the focus of and benchmark for all actions.

The assortment of litre wines in the portfolio encompasses all the popular Württemberg varieties, as well as the popular “Swabian” cuvées – first and foremost Trollinger with Lemberger, the most typical of all the Württemberg blends, which is also available in the steep site series. What all these wines have in common is a good, sound quality offering easy drinking pleasure either with food or on their own by the glass.

The usual distinction between Quality and Prädikat wines (ie. those with special attributes), which range from Kabinett all the way through to Trockenbeerenauslese depending on the ripeness of the grapes at harvest (in degrees Oechsle), is used only for 

the medium-dry, medium-sweet and sweet wines in 0.75-litre bottles. Yield reducing measures and grape sorting are of course also essential prerequisites for all Prädikat wines.

The dry wines of the Felsengartenkellerei are divided into five EDITIONS: Cuvéeschmiede, Terra S, Fels, Fas(s)zination and Composition. The grapes that go into these wines have to meet especially high demands. Measures to reduce yields and strictly control cultivation are obligatory. From the Fels quality upwards, the grapes after harvesting are transported with the utmost care in small crates to the cellar, where they undergo another sorting by hand on the sorting table.

A number of high-quality sparkling and semi-sparkling wines (Sekt and Seccos), but also fashionable wine cocktails and sweet wines, as well as brandies and spirits distilled from our own wines, complete the Felsengartenkellerei portfolio.