The history of the wine-estate Schloss Wallhausen
-winegrowing since 1200
-oldest family owned winery in Germany
An old Roman street between Main and Trier runs through the vineyards of Schloss Wallhausen. In the Gräfenbachtal (rivervalley) winegrowing was introduced by ths celts and Romans very early on. It is for certain that the owners famiky has been growing wines at Schloss Wallhausen for more than 780 years. The family can trace and document its ancestors back to 812.
The oldest document about vineyard proberty by the family of the name of Dalberg comes from winery documents from the year 1200 (Wineyard at Summerlachen, what would today be called Sommerloch, the next document comes from the year 1217 (Breitwies, which is now ne of the classified wineyard sites by the name of Wallhäuser Felseneck). In 1150 the Dalberg family started to build a castle, which is until today on the Schloss Wallhausen label. When gunpowder was founded the castle lost its protection ability. The family them moved to Wallhausen as it was too expensive and too uncomfortable to stay at the Dalburg. In 1756 the castle at Wallhausen was build and became the new home of the Dalberg Family. The castle was used as a administrative center prior to the move-in of the family. Until today winery and adminsitrative documents over hundreds of years are stored at Schloss Wallhausen.
Prince Michael (current owner) grandmother was the last Dalberg. She married 1911 Prince Franz zu Salm-Salm, the reason why the Salm family now owns Schloss Wallhausen. They together managed the estate and were one of the founding mebers of the Nahe auction center, which is part of todays VDP.
A lot of shield and Court of Armes can still be seen at Schloss Wallhausen and the surrounding villaged so keep your eyes open. Wallhausen itself still has 400 ha of wine under land and is one of the biggest winegrowing villages in the area.
The first naming of the different wineyard slopes comes from a document dating back to 1501.
The following Wineyard sites in Wallhausen were named then:
Johannisberg, Felseneck, Pastorenberg, Kirschheck, Hasensprung and others.