Why it matters
The producer
Vier Jahreszeiten Winzer works from Limburgstraße 8 in Bad Dürkheim as a cooperative rather than a single family estate. Around 300 members contribute fruit along the Mittelhaardt, so the cellar can build a portfolio from familiar Pfalz grapes—Riesling, Grauburgunder and Spätburgunder—and from Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Tempranillo, Souvignier Gris and Muscaris. The result is a producer whose bottles move between local vineyard names and regional Pfalz labels.
Its two processing sites, in Bad Dürkheim and Laumersheim, bring that grower network into the cellar. A Dürkheimer Steinberg Riesling points toward a named place and grape, while the 2025 Pfalz Grauburgunder is labelled as a dry German Qualitätswein: one bottle draws the frame tightly, the other shows a regional category.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Bad Dürkheim sits within the Mittelhaardt corridor named by the cooperative’s regional account. That geography matters on the label: “Pfalz” describes a broader regional wine such as the dry Grauburgunder, whereas “Dürkheimer Steinberg” gives the 2025 Riesling a town and vineyard name. The two labels offer different degrees of location without asking one wine to stand for every grower site.
For Steinberg, the documented site detail is its position at the edge of the Haardt. Night winds from the Pfälzerwald bring cool nights, and the wine is described with marked acidity and grapefruit notes; the local airflow has a direct sensory consequence in the glass.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Roughly 520 hectares and two processing sites require grapes to arrive from many grower holdings, then be sorted into different wine styles. Riesling and Grauburgunder give the range dry white-wine routes; Spätburgunder, Merlot and Tempranillo extend it toward red wine, while Souvignier Gris and Muscaris widen the grape list further.
Fine-lees ageing leaves wine in contact with spent yeast after fermentation, a cellar choice that can add texture and breadth. Wood and small barriques offer another route, bringing oak influence where used; separate maturation keeps those choices from flattening every bottle into the same aroma or weight.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range begins with classic Pfalz varieties but does not stop there. Riesling carries the clearest named-site examples: 2025 Dürkheimer Steinberg Riesling Kabinett trocken and the older 2017 Von Felsenheim Riesling Dürkheimer Feuerberg. The former is a dry Riesling with 12% alcohol, 6–6.9 g/L residual sugar and 7.1–7.5 g/L acidity; the latter shows how another named Dürkheim site can appear in the range.
The 2025 Pfalz Grauburgunder is also dry and classified as German Qualitätswein. Alongside it sit Sauvignon Blanc, Spätburgunder, Merlot, Tempranillo, Souvignier Gris and Muscaris, so the portfolio offers white, red and newer-variety routes rather than a Riesling-only view of Pfalz.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with the 2025 Dürkheimer Steinberg Riesling Kabinett trocken. It is a dry Pfalz Riesling from a named Bad Dürkheim vineyard at the edge of the Haardt, where night winds from the Pfälzerwald are linked to cool nights. In the glass, expect grapefruit, marked acidity, moderate body and a dry citrus-led finish; 12% alcohol and 6–6.9 g/L residual sugar give the technical frame. The bottle brings together the cooperative, a vineyard name and a clear place-driven flavour cue.