Location and Landscape
Herxheim am Berg lies on a projecting terrace of the Haard mountain range on the German Wine Route and is part of the Verbandsgemeinde Freinsheim in the Bad Dürkheim district. At around 212 metres above sea level, the place is considered the highest-lying municipality directly on the German Wine Route. The vineyards extend along a spur of the Vorderer Haardt; the slopes fall away to the north, east and south.
Viticulture and Soils
The town belongs to the protected wine-growing region Pfalz and to the Mittelhaardt area. The Palatinate Forest protects against cold winds and unfavourable weather conditions. Air movement on the sloping terrain, marked temperature differences between day and night and many hours of sunshine shape the site conditions. In the vineyards, tertiary limestone, calcareous loess clay, loess, sandy loam and clay-containing material occur; fragments of limestone or larger limestone blocks can be found in places.
Vineyard Sites and Grape Varieties
The most important individual vineyard sites include Himmelreich, Honigsack and Kirchenstück. Himmelreich lies in the south-east on a slope facing south. Honigsack is located to the south and west of the town and extends into parts of the Felsenberg-Berntal nature conservation area. Kirchenstück stretches to the east and north of Herxheim and includes terraces as well as numerous Gewanne with different soil conditions. Among the preferred white grape varieties are, among others, Riesling, Müller-Thurgau, Silvaner, Auxerrois, Weißburgunder, Grauburgunder and Chardonnay; for the red varieties, among others Spätburgunder, Dornfelder, St. Laurent, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are mentioned.
Wine-Growing History and Development
The name of the town Herisheim is already documented in a deed from the Weißenburg monastery from the year 774, which also mentions viticulture. Since the 1830s, the practice of training on a wire frame has been attributed, which replaced the former box construction with goat’s-horn pruning. The local growers’ cooperative was founded in 1937. Today, fresh, aromatic white wines, robust red wines, delicately sparkling sparkling wines, Secco, rosé wines and alcohol-free wines are produced. White wines are mainly matured in stainless-steel tanks, while red wines are matured in stainless steel and wooden barrels.
