Pfalz: Pfalz is for the Feinschmecker

Pfalz

“The Rheinpfalz Rieslings, especially, are as easy to drink with food as the fine white Burgundies of France” – Frank Schoonmaker, The Wines of Germany

Standing at the edge of the vineyards in Forst, looking upward towards the Pfälzerwald, you could just as easily imagine yourself in Morey-Saint-Denis or Puligny. Like the Côte d’Or, sloping vineyards face east over a plain, and some of the sites, most famously Forster Kirchenstück, are even surrounded by a Clos. Of course, this celebrated section of the Pfalz, between Kallstadt and Ruppertsberg, makes up only a tiny percentage of Germany’s second-largest wine region. The Pfalz has 23,684 hectares of vineyard (only Rheinhessen claims more). While Jesuitengarten, Ungeheuer, Pechstein, and previously mentioned Kirchenstück are planted almost entirely in Riesling, the leading producers of the southern Pfalz deliver some of Germany’s finest Spätburgunder and Weißburgunder. The Pfälzer celebrate their dry and full-bodied wines and their regional cuisine through a seemingly neverending series of festivals, making the Pfalz the region for the Feinschmecker.

As written in English, the Palatinate, a variation of Palast from the Roman Palatium, is the region’s historical name, covering more territory than the Weinanbaugebiet today. The wine region is an 85-kilometer stretch of vineyards running north to south, situated under the lee of the Pfalz Forest on the Haardt Mountains, a continuation of Alsace’s Vosges. Bad Dürkheim, Neustadt an der Weinstraße, and Landau are its three main cities and 130 villages between Bockenheim bordering Rheinhessen, and Schweigen bordering Alsace fall within two bereiche: the Mittelhaardt-Deutsche Weinstraße and the Südliche Weinstraße. In former times, the divisions were Unterhaardt, Mittelhaardt, and Oberhaardt, but the construction of the Deutsche Weinstraße in 1936 (an idea conceived by the Third Reich to encourage economic growth) led to its current organization. The northern vineyards with ecclesiastical origins and classified in the 1828 Bavarian Land Registry were always historically more significant than the southern area, which until recently was Schoppenwein country, its wines served by the tankard in Weinstuben or sold in bulk, sometimes destined for the Mosel.

Back to the food-friendly style of its wines, the Pfalz climate is much like that of Alsace or Baden and is one of the warmest, sunniest, and driest wine regions in Germany. As in Alsace, its complex geology is the result of millions of years of upheaval and tectonic activity, with areas of sandstone, basalt, limestone, sand, gravel, and löss. A broad range of grape varieties can produce a whole lot of interesting results, and while Riesling is king with 6,000 hectares planted, Dornfelder, Grauburgunder, Müller-Thurgau, Spätburgunder are planted in significant quantities along with Portugieser, Silvaner, Weißburgunder, Gewürztraminer, Kerner, Chardonnay, Morio-Muskat and Sauvignon Blanc. All the variety is what’s needed to pair with the local cuisine. Saumagen, literally “sow’s stomach,” is stuffed with a mixture of pork, potatoes, and seasonings, while a variety of Würste become the snack of Weck, Worscht un Woi (bun, sausage, and wine). Dampfnudeln, potatoes, and sauerkraut are part of the regional fare, but as a wise wine merchant once said, Pfalz wine is easily at home with the finest cuisine.

Mittelhaardt-Deutsche Weinstraße

The Pfalz was originally divided as Unterhaardt, Mittelhaardt, and Oberhaardt before being reorganized and renamed into two Bereiche in the 1990s, the two being the Mittelhaardt-Deutsche Weinstraße in the north, and the Südliche Weinstraße (formerly the Oberhaardt) in the south. Mittelhaardt is the area between Bad Dürkheim and Neustadt where Pfälzer Riesling is at its best from several famous villages like Deidesheim, Forst, Ruppertsberg, Ungstein, and Wachenheim. It is one of the driest areas in all of Germany and soils range from basalt in Forster Jesuitengarten to limestone in Kallstadter Saumagen.

The influence of the French is clear in the Mittelhaardt. Andreas Jordan arrived in Deidesheim from France in 1708 and focused on wine quality. Divided by the Napoleonic inheritance code in 1849, three estates emerged from Jordan’s holdings: Bassermann-Jordan, Reichsrat von Buhl, and Dr. Deinhard (today’s von Winning). Under Bavarian rule, the Mittelhaardt vineyards were classified in a 1828 Land Registry with vineyards like Pechstein, Jesuitengarten, Ungeheuer, Kirchenstück annointed as Grand Crus. Bassermann-Jordan, von Buhl, and Bürklin-Wolf the (the three “B’s”) became the Mittelhaardt’s quality bearers in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Following the two World Wars, the Mittelhaardt fell to the same trappings as other German wine regions, producing large volumes of sweet wines and diminishing its reputation. Quality began a slow and steady resurgence in the 1990s, with estates like Müller-Catoir leading the charge. Today’s Mittelhaardt is a dynamic mix of reenergized classics like von Buhl and von Winning, youth-infused mature estates like Heinrich Spindler, and VDP superstars like Christmann and Rings. 

Zellertal

Search for Zellertal on a map and you'll see the neighborhood, Flörsheim-Dalsheim (Keller), Hohen-Sülzen (Battenfeld-Spanier), and Westhofen (Wittmann) are all right there. The northernmost valley of the Pfalz borders the star-packed southernmost section of the Rheinhessen, and like their Rheinhessen colleagues, the independent Zellertal producers (there are around 10 wineries), seem poised to be the new stars of the Pfalz. Everything about Zellertal’s soil (limestone), its climate (the coolest part of the Pfalz), and its producers (highly ambitious) point in this direction. The Zellertal is a trough-shaped, west-east valley, with relatively gentle sides, bound on the north and south by two chains of low hills under 350 meters asl. The distance between the two ridges is 2 to 3 kilometers. Flowing east through the valley, from Donnersberg to Monsheim, is the Pfrimm, a tributary of the Rhine, which is just under 43 kilometers long.

Zellertal belonged to a division of the Pfalz formerly known as Unterhaardt and independent wine estates were once the rare exception. Today there are 350 hectares of vineyard in the Zellertal and producers like Schwedhelm and Bremer are drawing fresh attention to the area. Not that Zellertal is new, in fact, Zell claims to be the oldest wine-growing village in the Pfalz with over 1300 years of viticultural history. There’s also a vineyard here of great historical importance. One of the iconic symbols of the Zellertal is the Schwarzer Herrgott, a large black cross originally erected by the Irish monk St. Phillip of Zell, who planted a vineyard for sacramental wine close to the cloisters. The locals have kept up with the tradition and a Schwarzer Herrgott is always standing to watch over the vineyard. The 9-hectare, south-facing, steeply terraced Schwarzer Herrgott is located on a limestone plateau. The soil is rocky, pale porous limestone, and heavy with layers of loam and marl that typifies the region. The Schwarzer Herrgott is one of the oldest vineyards in Germany dating to 708 A.C. and is classified as a Grosse Lage by the VDP.