single vineyard in the municipality of Forst (Mittelhaardt-Deutsche Weinstraße area) in the German wine-growing region of Pfalz. The name refers to the black-coloured volcanic cast rock, basalt, which rose from the earth's interior as liquid magma around 40 million years ago. The basalt stones on the surface can be traced back to a common form of soil improvement in the 19th century. At that time, gravel extracted from a basalt quarry just a few hundred metres away was brought into the ground. The south to east-facing, gently sloping vineyard lies at an altitude of 120 to 160 metres above sea level with a slope of 10 to 15%.

It covers 17 hectares of vineyards on weathered red sandstone soils with sandy loam and basalt scree on the surface and basalt veins in the subsoil. The main grape variety cultivated here is Riesling. The Acham-Magin, Bassermann-Jordan, Biffar Josef, Dr Bürklin-Wolf, Kimich, Lucashof, Margarethenhof, Mosbacher Georg, Müller Eugen, Reichsrat von Buhl, Schaefer Karl, Spindler Heinrich, Villa Wolf and Weingut von Winning wineries, for example, all have shares in the vineyards.
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The glossary is a monumental achievement and one of the most important contributions to wine knowledge. Of all the encyclopaedias I use on the subject of wine, it is by far the most important. That was the case ten years ago and it hasn't changed since.
Andreas Essl
Autor, Modena