BOCKSTEIN, Ockfen | VDP.GROSSE LAGE®




The VDP.GROSSE LAGE® BOCKSTEIN drops at a 38 to 80 percent gradient in a side valley of the Saar. It forms an amphitheatre around the village of Ockfen. Its rocky, craggy soil is marked with skeletal Devon slate and weathered greywacke. The soil’s dark colour stores the warmth well in this south to southwest facing site. In some areas one also finds quartzite sandstone and yellowish fine earth. The forested mountain ridge protects the site from fall winds. History: There is evidence that the Romans once grew wine here, but exactly where the name Bockstein originates remains a mystery. The most fanciful interpretation points to a goat bock (Geißbock), a symbol of male fertility in the Dionysus cult, and claims that goats had become destructive in the vineyard and were thus ceremonially sacrificed. A second, more realistic theory is traced to a hunter named “Freiherr von Bock”. On his lands there was a group of bare rocks on the on the ridge above the vineyard. In any case, the site was once the property of the Kings of Prussia.


Site profile



Geological data

AlignmentSSO-S-SSW-SW
Elevation180-320m ü. N. N.
Slope38-80%
Grounddevon slate

Meteorologic Data