A 1417-founded September fair that draws around 600,000 visitors to Bad Duerkheim across two long weekends. More than 30 Schubkarchstaende grower stands pour Pfalz Riesling and Spaetburgunder at the foot of the Michelsberg.
Tip: Skip the fairground rides and head straight for the Schubkarchstaende behind the main fair; the grower-direct stands are the wine-quality heart of the Wurstmarkt.
Address: Wurstmarktplatz, 67098 Bad Duerkheim, Germany, Pfalz
Deidesheim's village wine fair runs for five August days through the half-timbered Altstadt, with stands from the local first-growth estates including Bassermann-Jordan, Reichsrat von Buhl, von Winning and other Mittelhaardt growers.
Tip: Walk the festival as a slow tasting trail across the village; Deidesheim is small enough to compare three or four top Mittelhaardt growers on foot in a single evening.
A first-weekend-in-August village wine festival in Forst, the basalt-soil home of Jesuitengarten, Pechstein, Ungeheuer and Kirchenstueck, with stands from Mosbacher, Acham-Magin, Eugen Mueller and other Forster growers.
Tip: Time the Saturday afternoon for a side-by-side tasting at adjacent grower stands; Forst is the basalt benchmark of the Pfalz and the village wines share the same volcanic spine.
A July castle-and-wine festival on the ruined Wachtenburg above Wachenheim, with stands from the village's first-growth estates including Dr. Buerklin-Wolf and Karl Schaefer pouring estate Riesling under the Mittelhaardt hilltop.
Tip: Climb the Wachtenburg before sunset for the festival's strongest view; the ruin looks straight down the Mittelhaardt with Forst and Deidesheim laid out below.
The annual coronation of the Pfaelzische Weinkoenigin held within the Deutsches Weinlesefest in Neustadt, a ceremonial October weekend that is one of the longest-running wine-monarch traditions in Germany and a fixed point on the Pfalz calendar.
Tip: Combine the coronation Saturday with the harvest parade through Neustadt; floats from every Mittelhaardt village line up along the Hauptstrasse beforehand.
The Pfalz wine industry's regional showcase in Mannheim, a ten-day June fair on the Kapuzinerplanken with around 30 grower stands pouring Pfalz Riesling, Weissburgunder and Spaetburgunder to the urban Rhine-Neckar crowd.
Tip: Mannheim's wine week is the easiest way to compare Pfalz growers without driving the Weinstrasse; pick a single Friday evening and walk the planken end to end.
A late-May wine market at the northern start of the Deutsche Weinstrasse in Bockenheim, opening the Pfalz wine festival season under the Haus der Deutschen Weinstrasse arch that marks kilometre zero of the route since 1995.
Tip: Start the Pfalz wine year at the Bockenheim arch and drive south down the Weinstrasse afterwards; the kilometre-zero stone makes the strongest opening photograph of the season.
Duerkheimer Wurstmarkt runs 10 to 20 September. These are the wine tours and tastings in Pfalz to book for the days around it; most cancel free up to 24 hours ahead.
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