Location and climate
Gleisweiler is a wine-growing municipality in the Pfalz region in the Südliche Weinstraße area of Rhineland-Palatinate. The municipality lies on the eastern foothills of the Haardt at an altitude of about 300 metres, at the foot of the Devil’s Mountain, which rises to around 600 metres. The south-easterly orientation and the protection provided by the western mountains favour a mild local climate with an early spring, a longer growing season and a lower risk of frost due to cold air draining away.
Wine-growing in Gleisweiler
According to the municipality, wine-growing is as old as the village itself; more detailed information on the local wine-growing is available from 1770 onwards. Up to the 1930s, cordon trellising was the usual training method, after which cultivation on wire frames took hold. A land consolidation enabled more efficient mechanical cultivation of the vineyard plots.
Grape varieties and vineyard sites
In the middle of the 19th century, Silvaner and Gutedel were the most widely grown grape varieties; average yields were around 40 hectolitres per hectare. Today, following a municipal grouping, the area under vines comprises 58 hectares, including 48 hectares with white and 10 hectares with red grape varieties. These include, among others, Riesling, Müller-Thurgau, Grauer Burgunder, Kerner, Weißer Burgunder, Scheurebe, Silvaner, Muskateller, Blauer Portugieser, Dornfelder, Spätburgunder and Regent.
Gleisweiler Hölle
The Einzellage Hölle is listed in the register of vineyard sites for the Großlage Bischofskreuz in the Südliche Weinstraße area with the vineyard-site code 810110. For the 2024 vintage, 57.3 hectares of planted vineyard area are recorded there. The VDP profile describes a south-facing site at an elevation of 280 to 315 metres, with an average slope gradient of three per cent and limestone marl as the soil. As a classified grape variety, Grauer Burgunder is given for a classification area of 46 hectares. The municipality chose the site name Hölle following the 1971 wine law reform as the designation for the wines from Gleisweiler, after numerous local Gewann (field-tract) names had been replaced.
