Kallstadt is a village at the northern end of Germany's Pfalz wine region, located 12 miles (20km) south-west of the town of Worms. Its vineyards are effectively contiguous with those of Ungstein, its immediate southern neighbor. Kallstadt is best known for the Riesling wines produced from its Saumagen and Steinacker vineyards. These are often full-bodied yet refreshingly crisp, with mouth-watering aromatics of white blossom, mandarin and grapefruit zest and an underlying minerality.
Kallstadt marks the northern end of Pfalz's prime vineyard area, in which it is joined by its southern neighbors Bad Durkheim, Forst, Deidesheim and Ruppertsberg. As evidenced by numerous archaeological finds, winemaking in this area dates back to Roman times, between roughly 100 B.C. and A.D. 400. The departure of the Romans put an end to the area's then-blossoming wine industry, but made way for the Franks to settle here long-term. It is after Chaglio, the chief of the Frankish tribe who settled here around A.D. 500, that the village is named. (Chaglio- evolved into Kall- over the intervening centuries).
Just one mile (1.6km) separates the village from the edge of the Pfälzerwald forest and the lower slopes of the Haardt Mountains. The scenery here is classic Pfalz, the landscape undulating very gently north-to-south and sloping steadily eastwards down towards the Rhine. Kallstadt village itself lies just below the south-eastern edge of a low, rounded hill, which rises about 330ft (100m) above the village center. It is on the eastern and southern slopes of this hill that the Saumagen and Steinacker vineyards are located.
The soils here are just as typical of the region as the scenery. The Bundsandstein (red sandstone) of which the Haardt Mountains are made dominates the terroir and is thought by some to be responsible for the slight spice that marks Kallstadter Rieslings out from those made in villages with less sandstone in their vineyards.
In addition to the Rieslings that have made its name, Kallstadt also produces some good examples of Gewurztraminer, Scheurebe and Huxelrebe.
