Location and municipality
Gleina is a municipality in the Burgenlandkreis district in Saxony-Anhalt and belongs to the administrative community of Unstruttal. It lies between Querfurt to the north and Freyburg on the Unstrut to the south. The municipality includes Gleina, Müncheroda, Baumersroda and Ebersroda; it is situated at an altitude of about 205 metres.
History
Gleina was first mentioned in documentary records in 1144. Work on building Gleina Palace began in 1689.
Viticulture
Gleina belongs to the wine region Saale-Unstrut. Viticulture is characterised by some steep vineyard sites, dry-continental climatic conditions and Muschelkalk soils that are strongly influenced by weathering. Wine-growing areas associated with Gleina include Himmelreich, Nüsseberg and Rappental. Official wine-growing-area listings record Gleina as the cadastral area of the single vineyard Dorndorfer Rappental, whose planted vineyard area comprises 60.1254 hectares.
Grape varieties and vinification
In Gleina, among other varieties, Müller-Thurgau, Kerner, Weißburgunder, Bacchus, Riesling, Grauburgunder, Silvaner, Traminer, Hölder, Sauvignon Blanc, Helios, Solaris and Scheurebe are grown, as well as André, Dornfelder, Portugieser, Zweigelt, Spätburgunder, Frühburgunder and Lemberger. The work includes winter pruning, tying and bending of the shoots, repeated trimming of the foliage and hand work in steep sites. For harvesting, a fully mechanised harvester has been used since the 1990s; ice wine and beerenauslese continue to be harvested by hand. The wines from Gleina belong to the protected designation of origin Saale-Unstrut.
