Location and landscape
Bad Wimpfen is located in Württemberg on the River Neckar, opposite the mouth of the Jagst and about 15 kilometres north of Heilbronn. The municipal area covers 19.38 square kilometres. The historic town lies on a steep slope above a meander of the Neckar at an altitude of about 195 metres.
Elevation and soils
The municipal area extends from the banks of the Neckar at around 145 metres up to about 253 metres in the west. It includes the gently undulating Lein-Elsenz hill country of the Kraichgau and the Heilbronn–Wimpfen valley. Fertile loess soils shape the high plateaus; in smaller valleys and basins, Gipskeuper and Lettenkeuper are exposed.
Climate and viticulture
The local climate is warm and dry. As a result, viticulture is possible to a limited extent at the edges of the municipal area, while agriculture elsewhere is characterised by intensive arable and market gardening. Vineyards in Wimpfen are documented as early as the year 1276.
Historical development
Settlement dates back to the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age. For the time around 450 BC, Celtic settlement is documented; in the late first century AD, a Roman fort was established in Wimpfen in the valley. In 1182, Wimpfen was first mentioned in a document as a Hohenstaufen royal palatinate location, and developed around 1300 into a free imperial city.
