Weinbiet

Weinbiet
The Weinbiet in 2008 seen from the Mußbach. The panorama tower (left, small antenna) is almost entirely hidden by trees due to its relative proximity (3 km).
Highest point
Elevation	554 m above sea level (NHN) (1,817.6 ft)
Coordinates	49°22′34″N 8°07′15″E / 49.37611°N 8.12083°E / 49.37611; 8.12083Coordinates: 49°22′34″N 8°07′15″E / 49.37611°N 8.12083°E / 49.37611; 8.12083
Geography
Weinbiet Palatine Forest (Rhineland-Palatinate,  Germany
Parent range	Haardt
Geology
Mountain type	Bunter sandstone
Climbing
Normal route	Eselspfad

The Weinbiet is a hill, 554 m above sea level (NHN), in the borough of Neustadt an der Weinstraße in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and is one of the highest hills in the Haardt, the line of mountains and hills forming the eastern edge of the Palatine Forest and facing the Upper Rhine Plain. On the summit is an inn, the Weinbiethaus, a stone-built panorama tower with a weather station and a radio transmission mast.

The two striking towers have made the hill a regional landmark above the plains roughly 400 metres below. The Winzergenossenschaft Weinbiet vineyard, on the municipalities of Mußbach (head office), Gimmeldingen and Haardt, takes its name from the hill.

The Weinbiet lies northwest and above the town of Neustadt an der Weinstraße on the western shoulder of the graben fault, which led to the sinking of the Rhine Plain. The intrusion was formed in the Old Tertiary about 65 million years ago and lasted until the present period.

The eastern spur of the Weinbiet massif, the 316-metre-high Nebelberg (Nöpelberg), is quite striking and runs for almost two kilometres to the edge of the graben fault. Whilst the Gimmelding quarry on the east side of the Nebelberg had been abandoned by the middle of the 20th century, the Haardt quarry on the south side is still working.

The southern spur, in the direction of Speyerbach, the 474-metre-high Wolfsberg with the three hectares of nature reserve descends slowly towards the Bergstein (409 metres) in the south-southeast. Here is also the stone relief of the Steinerner Hirsch ("Stony Stag"), from where there is a wide view over the Rhine Plain; further west are the ruins of the Wolfsburg castle and the Hohfels. The Meisental valley runs roughly south to north east of the Wolfsberg whilst to the west is the Nonnental valley.