Location and landscape
Dörrenbach is a municipality in the southern Pfalz and lies in a peaceful valley setting, surrounded by vineyards and mixed woodland. The areas under vine are located in part on sunny slopes.
Climate and soils
For the wine-growing region of Pfalz, a mean annual temperature of about 10 °C, a mean temperature for the growing period of 14.7 °C and an annual precipitation of around 655 millimetres are given. During the growing period, direct solar irradiation values reach about 665,000 Wh/m². The Wonneberg at the edge of the Haardt is protected from prevailing westerly weather patterns by surrounding hills and has diverse, layered soils.
Winegrowing on the Wonneberg
The Wonneberg is a legally registered single vineyard within the protected designation of origin Pfalz. The 2024 vineyard register lists there, in the Dörrenbach cadastral area, 125.2 hectares of vines under cultivation. In Dörrenbach, among others, Riesling, Müller-Thurgau, Chardonnay, Grauburgunder, Weißburgunder, Dornfelder, St. Laurent, Regent, Merlot and Zweigelt are grown.
History and wine production
Dörrenbach was first mentioned in a document dated 11 March 992 under the name Turrenbach; in 1992 the municipality commemorated the 1,000th anniversary of this mention. Documented winegrowing includes mechanical work on the vine’s rootstock area, individual vine pruning, leaf work in summer, thinning after flowering, moderate defoliation of the grape zone, longer ripening times and increased hand work. In the cellar, among other things, stainless-steel tanks are used; white must is clarified using a chamber filter and fermented at 16 to 22 °C. Selected red wines undergo must fermentation with subsequent biological reduction of acidity and ripen in part in wood or in barrique.
