"Emperor’s Chair") is a range of hills in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany with a maximum height of 556.6 metres (1,826 ft).

The name "Kaiserstuhl" is believed to refer to King Otto III, who held court near Sasbach on 22 December 994.

At its greatest extent, from the Michaelsberg near Riegel in the northeast, to the Fohrenberg, by Ihringen in the southwest, the Kaiserstuhl is about 15 km long.

The horizontal sedimentary layers forming the eastern third of the Kaiserstuhl date back to the Jurassic and the Tertiary long before the volcanic activity.

During the formation of the Upper Rhine Plain this part of the Kaiserstuhl sloped less in respect to its surrounding area – and thus appears as a so-called horst.

In terms of its geological structure and the sequence of its escarpments, the Kaiserstuhl is comparable to the nearby Tuniberg, Nimberg and also to the Schönberg, which is situated south of the city of Freiburg.

Due to the alternate eruption of tephra and lava flows from several vents a complex stratovolcano came into existence.

Some of the rising magma solidified as volcanic intrusions below the surface – and today forms the central part of the Kaiserstuhl.

Most igneous rocks at the surface are leucite-tephrites, with subordinate phonolites, limburgites, and olivine-nephelinites (at the Limberg Mountain near Sasbach), the last of which is rich in xenoliths from the Earth's mantle.

Carbonatite ignimbrite and lapilli are local peculiarities; they can be found in places in the western part of the Kaiserstuhl (Henkenberg near Burkheim, Kirchberg near Oberrotweil).

The subvolcanic and intrusive rocks of the central Kaiserstuhl are plutonic equivalents of the erupted material (essexite, carbonatite and coarse-granular phonolite).

Several local terms which do not carry official status with the International Union of Geological Sciences have been used for different varieties of the intrusive rocks.

Given its unusual composition for an igneous rock, the magmatic nature of the carbonatite was not proposed for a long time and remained doubtful subsequently.

The loess at the Kaiserstuhl – as in all the peripheral areas of the Upper Rhine Valley – was formed during the last Ice Age.

The wind blew strongly, as there was no vegetation that could have moderated it – entraining the lightest material and depositing it at obstacles like the Kaiserstuhl.

Its location in the southwestern corner of Germany and the protection of the mountains give it a warm microclimate, which is influenced mostly by air from the western Mediterranean Sea blowing through the Burgundian Gate.

Atlantic air masses can raise the temperatures especially in winter as well, while the surrounding mountains are able to hold most of the precipitation away from Kaiserstuhl.

As the rest of the year, the southern location and direct mediterranean influence can make autumns warm and pleasant with temperatures up to 30 °C (86 °F) even in the second half of October, which is very rare in other parts of Germany.

The pubescent oak (Quercus pubescens) is a Xerophyte and normally only occurs in Southern Europe, but is also able to survive at the Kaiserstuhl.

Varietals grown in the Kaiserstuhl: Müller-Thurgau, Riesling, Silvaner, Ruländer, Blue Spätburgunder, Grauburgunder, Weißer Burgunder, Gewürztraminer.

The loam there is strongly susceptible to erosion as a result of soil cultivation, thus terraces had to be added, which were then mostly used as vineyards, as well as fruit growing or for other agricultural uses.

To start with, it was for this reason that smaller terraces were merged in around 1950, this resulted in large scale reallocation, which turned parts of the original landscape completely upside down.

In addition extensive, devastating frost damage occurred; due to the incline of the mountainside at the surfaces of the acclivities, cold air pockets were formed in which the vines in bloom were frostbitten.

Additionally substantial frost damage occurred in the woody part of the vines, especially in the vineyards which were situated in lower regions.

The activity of the farmland consolidation authority was narrowed to repairing and partly to rescheduling which at least was meant to correct the most severe consequences of the transformations from 1982 on.

They have a total length of 140 km and were integrated into the existing trail network (check mark: yellow rhomb on white background) of the Black Forest Club.

The trail, which has a length of 21.7 km, was adapted to the Neunlindenpfad (North-South Trail) and leads from Endingen through the Ehrle Valley to St. Catherine's Chapel (Katharinenkapelle), across the Badberge hills to the Eichelspitz Tower, onward across the Vogelsang Pass to the Neunlinden Tower, through the Eichgasse to Bickensohl and across the Kreuzbuck through the Lenzengasse to Ihringen.