Gau-Weinheim

Gau-Weinheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.GeographyLocationThe winegrowing centre lies in Rhenish Hesse in the Rheinhessisches Hügelland (Rhenish-Hessian Uplands) in the Wißberg’s foothills. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Wörrstadt, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.HistoryIn 767, Gau-Weinheim had its first documentary mention as Wigenheim.PoliticsMunicipal councilThe council is made up of 12 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.Coat of armsThe municipality’s arms might be described thus: Argent a Communion jug azure, handle to sinister and spout to dexter, between two vineyard ladders gules, the dexter bendwise and the sinister bendwise sinister. The German blazon reads: In Silber eine gehenkelte blaue Weinkanne zwischen zwei roten Weinleitern, making no mention of the ladders’ attitude.The coat of arms was bestowed upon Gau-Weinheim in 1982 by the municipality’s own council. It goes back to court seals from 1536 and 1596 that are still known today. Even then, the Communion jug was depicted as now, but was otherwise a seldom seen heraldic charge, while two grapevines took the vineyard ladders’ place. Both charges refer to the municipality’s main line of business, which is winegrowing, and are canting, since the German words for both contain the syllable Wein (Weinkanne, Weinleitern), as does the name Gau-Weinheim. It, of course, means “wine”.