Location and landscape
Kandel is located in the Germersheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, on the northern edge of the Bienwald, about 12 kilometres from the French border. The town lies between the foothills of the South Palatinate winegrowing areas in the west and the Bienwald to the north and east. Kandel belongs to the Pfalz.
Relief and soils
The town lies at the end of a ridge that slopes down towards the east, at the transition to the flat Rhine plain. In the northern part of the town, the terrain falls from about 133 to 122 metres above sea level, while the south lies at around 120 metres in a floodplain area. In the outlying areas in the east and north-west there are agricultural land and vineyards.
Within the municipal area, sandy loam soils predominate. Higher-lying, groundwater-distant deposits of windblown sand support podsolised brown earths; in depressions and floodplains, gley soils and floodplain soils occur. In a planning area of Kandel, the subsoil consists of floodplain gley over Holocene floodplain sand, as well as deeper-lying Pleistocene river gravels and sands.
Climate
Kandel belongs to the climatic region of the middle Upper Rhine valley. The local climate is characterised by mild winters and warm summers. The location in the Rhine plain is also connected with weak wind conditions, limited air exchange, summer sultriness as well as inversion conditions in autumn and winter.
Galgenberg vineyard site
The Galgenberg vineyard site is documented as a single site in Kandel. In the wine sites register of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, it belongs to the South German Wine Route area and to the larger site of Guttenberg.
