Wine Festivals
The German Wine Route is marked by numerous open-air wine festivals, held annually from March to October, that make it a major tourist attraction. The largest wine festival worldwide with more than 600,000 visitors each year is the Wurstmarkt in front of the world's largest wine barrel in Bad Dürkheim in September. Other important wine festivals are the German Wine Harvesting Festival (Deutsches Weinlesefest) in Neustadt an der Weinstraße where the German Wine Queen is selected in October, the festival in Freinsheim (Stadtmauerfest in July), and in Deidesheim (Deidesheimer Weinkerwe in August). The first wine fest on the wine route is the Mandelblütenfest (Almond Blossom Festival) in Gimmeldingen held in March depending on the start of the flowering.
On the last Sunday in August, the route is closed to motorized traffic for German Wine Route Day (Erlebnistag Deutsche Weinstraße) with many wineries and Straußwirtschaften open air (seasonal wine bars) open to the hundreds of thousands of hikers, cyclers and inline skaters who visit this festival.
Unlike with festivals in other German wine regions, wine is served in 50 cl glasses rather than the typical 25 cl ones. They are of a special shape specific to the Palatinate wine region and are known as the Dubbeglas, widening from bottom to top and featuring indentations or large dimples (Dubbe) that give the glass its name. The dimples are especially useful when socializing starts and one's dexterity is affected by the wine. The undimpled half-litre Schoppenglas is also frequently seen along the route.
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