German Wine Gate

A corresponding marker at the northern end of the German Wine Route at Bockenheim, some 85 kilometers (53 miles) to the north is the Haus der Deutschen Weinstraße (House of the German Wine street) which since 1995 has welcomed visitors with unusual architectural details and a large restaurant.

Pedestrians and cyclists can negotiate the bollards but for cars a new road has been built approximately fifty meters to the east of the entire structure.

Although much of the structure is of timber, the outer facing is constructed of the pink sandstone similar to that used for several traditionally styled showpiece buildings in the area, such as Trifels Castle.

Government policy had compounded the industry's difficulties by forbidding the business activities of Jewish wine traders, who had hitherto provided a vital commercial link for the wineries[3] Party leaders came up with the idea of the German Wine Route, with the imposing "Weintor" at its southern end, as a way to increase general awareness of the region's wineries and to boost employment in the tourism sector locally.

The regional Gauleiter, Josef Bürckel, produced an appropriately bombastic speech on 19 October 1935 as part of the official opening of the German Wine Route.

- Gauleiter Josef Bürckel at the central opening ceremony in Bad Dürkheim on 19 October 1935[6] The stone-clad "Weintor" was finally built only in 1936.

German Wine Gate in 2006
After the war the two headed eagle which had proudly decorated the "Weintor" when viewed from France, across the frontier, had its swastika cut away along with one of its two heads.