Gimmeldingen is a wine-growing village in western Germany's Pfalz wine region. It is situated on the edge of the low-lying Haardt mountain range, north of Neustadt town and south of Konigsbach. The classic Gimmeldinger wine is a ripe, flavorful Riesling with a hint of stone fruit and a streak of minerality.
Historically the village was of great viticultural significance, with the famous 846-acre (342-ha) Meerspinne vineyard having established a reputation for quality wines over the years. Following a reclassification in the late 1960s, Meerspinne was partitioned into several smaller einzellagen. Usage of the name Gimmeldinger Meerspinne still persists, but the very best wines now bear the name of their individual vineyards.
Mandelgarten, a Grosse Lage site on the northern border of the village, is widely regarded as Gimmeldingen's finest. It sits on a red sandstone deposit with a deep water vein beneath it. This provides unique mineral nourishment to the vines. Land prices are at a premium here, right on the edge of the village, within walking distance of the local train station. As a result, it is planted exclusively to Riesling, the variety that commands the highest prices and therefore offers the best return on investment. Pfalz is home to several other vineyards named Mandel-something-or-other, most notably Himmelsreich Mandelpfad in Dirmstein and the Mandelbergs in both Kirrweiler and Birkweiler. This serves as a reminder of Pfalz's warm, dry climate (brought about by the protection given by the Haardt hills above), in which almonds (Mandeln) are grown successfully.
On the hillside slightly above Mandelgarten is the Biengarten site, a relatively large vineyard from which a number of quality Rieslings are made.
Although Rieslings from Mandelgarten and Biengarten are really Gimmeldingen's only wines which attract much attention, there are a handful of noteworthy wines sold under the generic Meerspinne title mentioned above. In addition to Riesling, the village also grows white-wine varieties Scheurebe, Weissburgunder and Rieslaner and red-wine varieties Dornfelder and Portugieser.
Immediately north of Gimmeldingen lies Pfalz's very finest wine-growing area. This narrow strip of prime vineyard real estate runs northwards from neighboring Ruppertsberg for six miles (10km) until Kallstadt.
