Vineyard stratigraphy

Sometimes the name of a vineyard reveals something of the character of the vineyard, an old owner, or in some cases, the geology, which is the case here. “Weiss Erd“ means white earth and this is exactly what you will find in the Kostheim vineyard located just below the road. .

White earth

The vineyard “Weiss Erd“ is named for the light coloured marl. When the marl dries it is snow white.  Where does marl come from? Our region was once covered by a warm, tropical sea. Calcareous fine sediments accumulated at the bottom of the sea – the marl. After the sea had receded, the River Main flowed across the landscape and deposited gravel during the colder periods. Whilst the landscape was uplifted, the river carved deeper and deeper into the subsurface, creating the terraced landscape we see today. The “buried sea” is exposed again on the slopes of the vineyard “Weiss Erd“.

The soil

The subsoil consists of light coloured silt marl, mixed with sand, clay and gravel. The marl is covered by loess. With time the loess weathered to form brown, non-calcareous residual loess. As a consequence of land consolidation efforts, light coloured, calcareous loess was added as topsoil.