Highlights

The wine festival of Deidesheim is the undisputed highlight of the wine culture year in the prominent wine town on the German Wine Route.
Every year, everything revolves around culture, art and pleasures in the wine capital Deidesheim. Over 60 wineries, studios, restaurants and shops are designed to transport the visitor into a world of (wine) delights!
The actual heart is the „Woigass“ (dialect name of the street where you can buy some wine) with almost 30 stalls invites you with its culinary variety for a sociable stay with a „Schoppen“ (glass of wine that contains half a litre).
All wineries offer not only the well-known wine from Deidesheim but also a wide range of Palatinate specialties for the hungry visitors.
With the award „most beautiful wine festival of the Palatinate“ especially the consequent orientation of the Deidesheimer Weinkerwe on a „quality wine and culture enjoyment“ was honored. The topic „quality“ always plays a decisive role at Deidesheimer Weinkerwe. It is not the quantity that should remain in the foreground of the wine festival in the future, but the quality of the presented wines, events and goods. For this reason, every year before the beginning of the Weinkerwe a covert tasting of the offered “Schoppen” held in order to ensure an elevated level of quality of these wines.
 
 

Christmas market „Deidesheimer Advent“

on the four Advent weekends from Friday to Sunday

Year after year, exhibitors and artisans from all over Germany meet in over 100 booths in the well-known wine town of Deidesheim on the German Wine Route. Not only since the „Welt am Sonntag“ (magazine) has counted Deidesheimer Advent next to Heidelberg, Gotha, Salzburg and Basel among the five most beautiful Christmas markets in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the Christmas season in the romantic wine town enjoys almost „cult status“. This is certainly due to the historical backdrop of the city of Deidesheim, but also to the lovingly designed market, which already looks like a sea of lights from 1000 and one night from afar.
The focus of the stands is on tasteful artisan offers. Many artisans can look over their shoulders every year in their activities, such as a fossil preparer, an ax maker, goldsmiths, leather tailors, blacksmiths, wood carvers, master craftsmen or ceramists.
International exhibitors in the area of the historic marketplace provide a special flair: here you will find also a stall with specialties from the Roero region in Italy and Swiss coffee and cheese specialties from the twin town of Buochs.

The supporting program has something to offer for every taste with numerous concerts in the churches and in the market area. And if you want to know more about the Christmas traditions, you can book a Christmas special „Advent, Advent …“ for groups.
Also a varied children’s program with pre-Christmas children’s theater and the children’s bakery again holds many surprises for the little guests ready.
Quality is also a top priority in the food and beverage offer. Numerous food and beverage stalls offer a wide range of specialties. The offered mulled wine is based exclusively on red wines from the association community Deidesheim. As a result, as well as by covert samples of the offered mulled wines, a high quality of the poured mulled wine is secured.
If you want to explore Deidesheim a bit off the beaten track, you can visit artists in the historic city center of Deidesheim on the Advent weekends. With a variety of exhibitions, they offer a good insight into the art and culture scene Deidesheim.
 
 

“Geißbockversteigerung” (billy goat auction)

on the Tuesday after Pentecost

If others do not want to party, then in Deidesheim boredom is taken on the horns. And that is tradition. The historic Geißbockversteigerung has been around since 1404. Since then, the neighboring city Lambrecht has every year to pay its pasture rights in the city forest of Deidesheim with a well-horned and powerful billy goat. The youngest couple of Lambrecht take the animal to Deidesheim, where it is auctioned off in a spectacular way. The bids are sometimes surprisingly high. As well as the mood of the many guests who attend the historic spectacle.
“Hanselfinger hat” (theater play) is even earlier than the Geißbock. Already on “Rosesunday” the people in the neighboring municipality Forst drive the winter out with plenty of noise. The summer day game has 200 years of tradition, and the visitors have sooty cheeks because the Hanselfinger hat arbitrarily distributes its black kisses. Finally, the winter on the fairground in bright flames, and a good “Schoppen” (a half liter of wine) warms the spring-fresh party.
At Easter, the shooters from Ruppertsberg set new records year after year. Germany’s first and probably most famous „Easter egg shooting“ attracts many thousands of guests to the shooting range at the edge of the forest south of Deidesheim. Shot is on discs. There are colorful eggs for hits in the black.
The fact that the people of the Palatinate understand what they are celebrating has meanwhile gotten around. Until Deidesheim concludes the season with its magical Christmas market, paradise-like conditions prevail for cheerful people. Half a dozen wine festivals with lots of atmosphere make the town and its neighboring communities in the summer popular destinations for all who enjoy the Palatinate wine and Palatinate hospitality in Winzerhöfen and wine cellars carefree.
Definitely one of the most popular festivals in the region is the Deidesheimer Weinkerwe. About the reasons you can speculate; because success has many fathers. For example, the “Weinraritätenversteigerung” (auction), the “Kerweumzug” (parade), the “Kerwebuwe” (celebrating guys) and the “Kerwered ‚ “ (speech) – a creation of tradition with humor and pointed comments on current events.
In the celebrations, the neighboring communities are quite large – at the “Gässelkerwe” in Meckenheim or at the feast of the wine in Niederkirchen or at the Ruppertsberger Weinkerwe for example. The Weinkerwe at the monster in Forst is also really round.