Mosel () is one of 13
German wine regions (''Weinbaugebiete'') for
quality wines (''Qualitätswein'', formerly ''QbA'' and ''Prädikatswein''), and takes its name from the
Mosel River
The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A ...
(french: Moselle;
Luxembourgish
Luxembourgish ( ; also ''Luxemburgish'', ''Luxembourgian'', ''Letzebu(e)rgesch''; Luxembourgish: ) is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide.
As a standard form of th ...
: ''Musel''). Before 1 August 2007 the region was called Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, but changed to a name that was considered more consumer-friendly. The wine region is
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
's third largest in terms of production but some consider it the leading region in terms of international prestige.
[J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Wine Course'' Third Edition, pp. 264-265. Abbeville Press 2003 .]
The region covers the valleys of the rivers Mosel,
Saar
Saar or SAAR has several meanings:
People Given name
*Saar Boubacar (born 1951), Senegalese professional football player
* Saar Ganor, Israeli archaeologist
*Saar Klein (born 1967), American film editor
Surname
* Ain Saar (born 1968), Est ...
, and
Ruwer
The Ruwer is a river in Germany with a length of . It is a right tributary of the Moselle. The valley of the Ruwer is a part of the Moselle wine-growing region near Trier in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is famous for its Riesling wines ...
from near the mouth of the Mosel at
Koblenz
Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary.
Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...
and upstream to the vicinity of
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
in the federal state of
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
. The area is known for the steep slopes of the region's vineyards overlooking the river. At 65
° degrees incline
Incline, inclined, inclining, or inclination may refer to:
*Grade (slope), the tilt, steepness, or angle from horizontal of a topographic feature (hillside, meadow, etc.) or constructed element (road, railway, field, etc.)
*Slope, the tilt, steepn ...
, the steepest recorded vineyard in the world is the ''Calmont'' vineyard located on the Mosel and belonging to the village of
Bremm
Bremm is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a Municipalities of Germany, municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell Districts of Germany, district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to ...
, and therefore referred to as ''Bremmer Calmont''.
[K. MacNeil ''The Wine Bible'', pp. 532-535. Workman Publishing 2001 .] The Mosel is mainly famous for its wines made from the
Riesling grape
A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters.
The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...
, but
Elbling and
Müller-Thurgau
Müller-Thurgau is a white grape variety (sp. ''Vitis vinifera'') which was created by Hermann Müller from the Swiss Canton of Thurgau in 1882 at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in Germany. It is a crossing of Riesling with Madeleine R ...
also contribute to the production, among others.
In the past two decades red wine production, especially from the ''Spätburgunder'' (
Pinot noir
Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...
), has increased in the Mosel and throughout the German vignoble and has become of increasing interest to the international wine community. Because of the northerly location of the Mosel, the Riesling wines are often light, tending to lower
alcohol
Alcohol most commonly refers to:
* Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom
* Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks
Alcohol may also refer to:
Chemicals
* Ethanol, one of sev ...
,
crisp CRISP may refer to:
* Center for Research in Security and Privacy, largest research center for IT security in Europe
* C-language Reduced Instruction Set Processor, an AT&T microprocessor design
* Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Pat ...
and high in
acidity, and often exhibit "flowery" rather than or in addition to "fruity" aromas. Its most common vineyard soil is derived in the main from various kinds of slate deposits, which tend to give the wines a transparent, mineralic aspect, that often exhibit great depth of flavor. In the current era of climate change much work has been done to improve and gain acceptance for completely dry ("Trocken") Rieslings in this region, so that most of the more famous makers have found acceptance for such wines, particularly in Europe.
History
It is believed that
viticulture
Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...
was brought to this area by the
Romans who planted vineyards along the Mosel and the
Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
in order to have a local source of wine for their
garrison
A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...
s. The cost of transporting wine up from the
Italian Peninsula or across the
Vosges Mountains
The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...
and the Roman vineyards in
Gaul
Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...
was very high and impractical. The Romans considered creating a
canal between the
Saône
The Saône ( , ; frp, Sona; lat, Arar) is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department and joining the Rhône in Lyon, at the southern end of the Presqu'île.
The name deri ...
and the Rhine before ultimately deciding to plant vines in the area.
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
(founded 16 BC) was a major Roman outpost and it is likely that the first Mosel vineyards were planted in the surrounding hillsides sometime in the 2nd century. Viticulture was certainly flourishing in the area by the 4th century when the Roman poet
Ausonius wrote a poem about the beauty of the land at
harvest
Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...
time.
[H. Johnson ''Vintage: The Story of Wine'' pp. 87–95, Simon and Schuster 1989 .]
The Mosel wine of the Roman period was described as light bodied and "austere". It was said to be an easier drinking wine than that of other Roman areas. In the winter time, the wine was heated in a kettle and drunk like a
tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...
(a practice that still has some tradition among modern vineyard workers who drink it like
coffee, often with a little sugar added). In warmer
vintage
Vintage, in winemaking, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product—wine (see Harvest (wine)). A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certa ...
s the wine was noticeably more fruity and
sweet. This was because the warmth allowed the grapes to more fully
ripen and develop more
sugars. During the cold autumn the
fermentation
Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food ...
process would not be fully complete because of the low temperature, thus leaving the wine with high levels of
residual sugar
The subjective sweetness of a wine is determined by the interaction of several factors, including the amount of sugar in the wine, but also the relative levels of alcohol, acids, and tannins. Sugars and alcohol enhance a wine's sweetness, whil ...
s.
[H. Johnson ''Vintage: The Story of Wine'', pp. 113–118. Simon and Schuster 1989 .]
In the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, villages sprung up that were centered on the region's wine industry. These "wine villages", known as ''"Winzerdörfer"'', included paths from the town center up to the area's vineyards. At the center was a community
wine cellar where all the area's growers could store their wines. Probably most well known among the ''Winzerdörfer'' was the village of Bernkastel which was granted town rights in 1291.
In 1435 when Count
Johann IV of
Katzenelnbogen
Katzenelnbogen () is the name of a castle and small town in the district of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Katzenelnbogen is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Aar-Einrich.
History
Katzenelnboge ...
planted
Riesling in the nearby town of
Rüsselsheim the first time he owned vineyards in Winningen like ''the Destil'', in Burgen and Kochem one half of the city and many vineyards more along the Mosel. In order to create more suitable land for vineyards, vineyard owners in the 16th century used
explosives
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...
to break up the vertical
spurs of rock along the rivers.
[J. Robinson (ed) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition, pp. 456–458, Oxford University Press 2006 .]
Towards the end of the 17th century, the Mosel began to be identified more with wine made from the Riesling grape. The
St. Maximin's Abbey
St. Maximin's Abbey (german: Reichsabtei St. Maximin) was a Benedictine monastery in Trier in the Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
History
The abbey, traditionally considered one of the oldest monasteries in western Europe, was held to have been fo ...
in Trier owned 74 vineyards and by 1695 had over 100,000 Riesling vines. Today the vineyard of Maximin Grünhaus is considered one of the best Riesling vineyards in all of Germany. In the 18th century, the
Prince-elector
The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, la, Princeps Elector), or electors for short, were the members of the electoral college that elected the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
From the 13th century onwards, the prince ...
of Trier,
Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony, mandated that over a seven-year period every vine in the Mosel area was to be Riesling only. The rise of the
House of Hanover
The House of Hanover (german: Haus Hannover), whose members are known as Hanoverians, is a European royal house of German origin that ruled Hanover, Great Britain, and Ireland at various times during the 17th to 20th centuries. The house orig ...
in
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
saw a period of increase
exportation
An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is an ...
of "moselle wine" to England. However, the wine's high price kept the wines mostly in the hands of the Royal court and English nobility rather than replacing
claret in the village taverns.
[H. Johnson ''Vintage: The Story of Wine'', pp. 288–296, Simon and Schuster 1989 .]
The 19th century saw an unprecedented era of prosperity for the Mosel wine industry under the rule of
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
starting with the historic vintage of 1819. For the rest of the 1820s, there was a succession of outstanding weather and sterling wines produced. To promote the region's wine, the Prussian government lowered the
tariff
A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and poli ...
s for the import of Mosel wines to other regions of the Prussian kingdom. The development of the
Zollverein customs union even further benefited the Mosel by reducing the customs on their wines traveling to other regions of the
German Confederation
The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...
. A string of bad weather vintages in the late 1830s and early 1840s would dampen the extent of prosperity that the Mosel would see.
[H. Johnson ''Vintage: The Story of Wine'' pp. 388–396, Simon and Schuster 1989 .]
By the 1850s, wine-makers in the Mosel had discovered the benefits of
chaptalization in helping to compensate for bad weather vintages and under ripened grapes. Another significant boom came a couple decades later when the British Prime Minister
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
lowered the
duties on light wine which opened up the British market to lower cost Mosel wines. This increased prosperity had the net effect of encouraging more quantity in production rather than quality. Many areas that were not ideal for Riesling were soon planted by the easier to grow Müller-Thurgau and other Riesling crossings. In the 20th century, a
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
n taste for sweet wines saw the prominence of
Liebfraumilch
''Liebfraumilch'' or ''Liebfrauenmilch'' (, in reference to the Virgin Mary) is a style of semi-sweet white German wine which may be produced, mostly for export, in the wine region, regions Rheinhessen (wine region), Rheinhessen, Palatinate (wine ...
and brands like
Blue Nun
Blue Nun is a German wine brand launched by the company H. Sichel Söhne (Mainz) in 1923 with the 1921 vintage, and which between the 1950s and 1980s was a very popular international brand. For most of its existence, Blue Nun was a single Germ ...
dominate the German import wine market. In recent times, the Mosel (as well as the entire
German wine
German wine is primarily produced in the west of Germany, along the river Rhine and its tributaries, with the oldest plantations going back to the Ancient Rome, Roman era. Approximately 60 percent of German wine is produced in the state of Rhine ...
industry) has dedicated itself to reversing the reputation it gained during these years and focus on the quality of the area's dry wines.
Climate and geography
The Mosel wine region has northernly
continental climate
Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in the middle latitudes (40 to 55 north), within large landmasses where prevailing winds blow overland bringing som ...
that is marked by cool temperatures. The best producing vineyard sites are located along the Mosel river and its tributary where the heat from the sun can be maximized by reflection up from the water. South & southwest facing slopes are even more sought after because of the increased exposure to direct sunlight that can aid in ripening of the grapes.
[C. Fallis, editor ''The Encyclopedic Atlas of Wine'' pp. 258-259, Global Book Publishing 2006 .] The
soil
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former te ...
of the area is dominated by
porous slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
which has ideal drainage for the regions heavy rainfall and good heat retaining properties.
Many of the best vineyards have no topsoil at all, just broken slate. During the summer months the weather is warm but rarely hot with July's average temperatures around .
The Mosel river dominates the geography of the region which is typically divided into three main sections. The Upper Mosel is the southernmost section located closest to the river's origins along the
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
and
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
border. The region includes the Saar and Ruwer river tributaries and is centered on the city of Trier. The Middle Mosel or ''Mittelmosel'' is the main wine growing region and includes the villages of
Bernkastel
Bernkastel-Kues () is a town on the Middle Moselle in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a well-known winegrowing centre. The town is a state-recognized health resort (''Erholungsort''), seat of the ''Ver ...
and
Piesport
Piesport is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Geography
Location
The municipality lies sur ...
. The Middle Mosel begins at the village of
Zell and extends south to just north of the village of
Schweich
Schweich is a town in the Trier-Saarburg district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Moselle, approx. northeast of Trier.
Schweich is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Schweich an der R ...
. The slate-based soil here is said to have one of the most recognizable ''
terroir'' with the wines, especially Riesling, displaying slatey mineral notes. The Lower Mosel includes the region south of the city of Koblenz to the village of
Alf near Zell. It is the most northern wine region of the Mosel and includes the area's confluence with the Rhine river.
Viticulture
The steep river bank slopes that are scattered around the Mosel region are considered some of the most labor-intensive vineyards in the world.
Mechanical harvesting
Mechanical may refer to:
Machine
* Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement
* Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...
is impractical and nearly seven times more
man hour
A man-hour (sometimes referred to as person-hour) is the amount of work performed by the average worker in one hour. It is used for estimation of the total amount of uninterrupted labor required to perform a task. For example, researching and wr ...
s are needed in the Mosel than in flatter terrain such as the
Médoc
The Médoc (; oc, label= Gascon, Medòc ) is a region of France, well known as a wine growing region, located in the ''département'' of Gironde, on the left bank of the Gironde estuary, north of Bordeaux. Its name comes from ''(Pagus) Medull ...
.
Grapevines
''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 79 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus is made up of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, b ...
are individually
staked to the ground without connecting wires so that vineyard workers can tend the plants going
horizontally across the vineyard rather than
vertically, which would be more treacherous and tiring. Safety is a priority for many Mosel vineyard owners with the area having a documented history of
fatalities among workers while tending the vines.
A benefit of the steep Mosel vineyards is that the incline allows for more direct sunlight to have contact with the vines. During the winter, rain often causes some
soil erosion
Soil erosion is the denudation or wearing away of the upper layer of soil. It is a form of soil degradation. This natural process is caused by the dynamic activity of erosive agents, that is, water, ice (glaciers), snow, air (wind), plants, and ...
, especially of the vital slate chips that are needed for their heat retaining properties. Many vineyards will gather these eroded
sediments
Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand a ...
and carry them back up the hillside.
The Riesling grape, grown on 59.7% of the region's cultivated vineyard surface in 2008,
[German Wine Institute: German wine statistics 2009/2010](_blank)
is widely considered the most prestigious and highest quality wine grape of the Mosel but it cannot be planted on every vineyard site due to difficulties the grape has in ripening in particularly cool climates. Factors such as
altitude,
aspect and
sunlight
Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere, and is obvious as daylight when t ...
exposure can have a pronounced effect not only one the resulting quality of the wine but also whether the Riesling grape will even ripen at all. A positive characteristic of the Riesling grape is that despite less than perfect ripeness it can still create a wine of finesse and elegance that would escape most other grape
varieties.
In place of Riesling, the easier cultivated Müller-Thurgau grape (14.7%) and other Riesling crossings like
Kerner (4.6%) were planted in large quantities on the sites that were not suitable for Riesling, and which in many cases had been previously used for other agricultural purposes. A negative consequence of these large-scale plantings is that the wine produced from these sites are typically of a lower quality than Riesling wines which in turn has a depressing economic effect on the prices of all Mosel wines. While consumers have benefited with top quality Riesling wines being underpriced in comparison with some of the world's other great wines from places like
Bordeaux,
Burgundy
Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...
and
California, the economic hardship created by the prices has caused some of the smaller Mosel vineyards to go out of business.
In 2008, the Mosel vineyards covered , making it the fifth-largest of Germany's 13 wine regions.
White grape varieties cover 91 percent of the region's total vineyard surface. The trend in total vineyard area has until recently been slightly negative over a longer period of time, down from in 1988 to in 2003 and to in 2006. It is primarily lesser sites previously planted with "low quality" varieties that have been abandoned in this process; during the 20-year period from 1988 to 2008, plantings of Müller-Thurgau decreased by 55% and those of Elbling by 49%. However, in 2007 and 2008, the negative trend in total plantations has been broken, and the Mosel vineyard surface has seen a small increase of in two years.
The projected
Mosel High Bridge will cross and affect some of the most famous vineyards prompting international wine critics and
oenologists to oppose its construction.
Wine region
Within the Mosel region, there are the following six districts (''Bereiche'') and 19 collective vineyard designations (''Großlagen''), plus 524 single vineyard (''Einzellagen'') designations. Four of the six districts are situated on the river Mosel, and one each on rivers Saar and Ruwer.
*District Burg
Cochem / more commonly known as Untermosel or Terrassenmosel
The Cochem district is home to some of the steepest vineyards in the Mosel planted on soil composed of blue
devonian
The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...
slate, red slate and
quartzite
Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tect ...
.
Many of the vineyards of the lower Mosel are terraced, which has led many producers to adopt the name Terrassenmosel, which sounds nicer than Untermosel in German. This district produces a higher proportion of dry wines than the rest of the region. A well known vineyard from this area is the ''Juffermauer'' located near
Treis-Karden, whose name means "Virgin-Wall" in the local Franconian dialect/language.
[K. MacNeil ''The Wine Bible'' p. 517, Workman Publishing 2001 .]
*District Bernkastel / more commonly known as Mittelmosel
This is the central district of the region. One of the most notable vineyards in this area is known as ''Doctorberg'', and its wines as ''Bernkasteler Doctor''. An
apocryphal
Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...
story of how the vineyard got its name originated in the late
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
when a local
archbishop
In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...
was miraculously cured of a
terminal illness by drinking wine made from the grapes of this vineyard.
[K. MacNeil ''The Wine Bible'' p. 512, Workman Publishing 2001 .]
Other notable vineyards of the Mittelmosel include the
Sundial
A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...
(German ''Sonnenuhr'') vineyards;
Brauneberg
Brauneberg is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a Municipalities of Germany, municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich Districts of Germany, district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. I ...
Juffer-Sonnenuhr,
Wehlener Sonnenuhr,
Zeltinger Sonnenuhr. In the 19th century, large sundials were built in these vineyards so that the workers would know what time to break for lunch or the end of the work day. Since these vineyards receive the most exposure to the sun, many of the wines produced from these vineyards are richer and more full-bodied than wine produced from other vineyards. In a similar way to many of
Burgundy's Grand Cru vineyards, the Sonnenuhr vineyards are highly parceled with multiple owners of individual plots or rows of vines. The Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyard alone has more than 200 owners.
*District
Ruwertal / more commonly known as Ruwer (its formal name is due to the fact that Ruwer also is a suburb of Trier. The Ruwer is an estuary that flows into the Mosel; "Tal" is German for valley.)
Located to the southeast of Trier, this region includes the vineyards around
Waldrach
Waldrach is a municipality in the Trier-Saarburg district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, near Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the ban ...
and
Kasel. The region is home to many
monopole vineyards. At
Mertesdorf
Mertesdorf is a municipality in the Trier-Saarburg district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, near Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the b ...
, there is a
subterranean
Subterranean(s) or The Subterranean(s) may refer to:
* Subterranea (geography), underground structures, both natural and man-made
Literature
* ''Subterranean'' (novel), a 1998 novel by James Rollins
* ''Subterranean Magazine'', an American fa ...
Roman aqueduct
The Romans constructed aqueducts throughout their Republic and later Empire, to bring water from outside sources into cities and towns. Aqueduct water supplied public baths, latrines, fountains, and private households; it also supported mining o ...
that connects the Grünhaus vineyard with the city of Trier. The quality of Ruwer wine is particularly dependent on the quality of the vintage with cool vintages marked by sharply acidic wines that quickly fade and warmer vintage producing some of the most delicate and perfumed expressions of German wines.
[H. Johnson & J. Robinson ''The World Atlas of Wine'' pp. 216-223, Mitchell Beazley Publishing 2005 .]
*District Saar
Like the Ruwer region, wine from the Saar district (along the lower course of the
Saar River, in
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
) is particularly dependent on the overall quality of the vintage typically only 4 years out of every 10 producing a worthwhile set of wines. The wines that do come out of these warm vintages are noted for their apple-like freshness and steely mineral notes. The most ideal vintages allow harvest to take place between late October and mid November when the grapes can develop enough sugar to produce floral and honeyed notes.
*District Obermosel
This wine district is composed of a thin strip of land along the Luxembourg border. The region starts just north of
Igel
Igel is a municipality in the Trier-Saarburg district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Igel is known for the Igel Column, a 23 m high Roman decorated tomb. The Igel Column is a UNESCO World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landma ...
and continues south to the village of
Palzem
Palzem is a municipality in the Trier-Saarburg district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
History
From 18 July 1946 to 6 June 1947 Palzem, in its then municipal boundary, formed part of the Saar Protectorate
The Saar Protectorate (german: S ...
where it meets the Moseltor district. Elbling, Müller-Thurgau, and
Auxerrois Blanc are some of the region largest plantings.
Obermosel and Moseltor contain very few notable vineyards compared to the other districts of the region.
*District Moseltor
The Moseltor area is the most southern area of the Mosel region, and is located together with the Obermosel along the Luxembourg border. The Elbling grape is the most commonly planted here producing a thin, rustic wine with high acidity.
Sparkling wine production is growing in this area.
The reason why tiny Moseltor with its around of vineyards is a separate ''Bereich'' is that it, in contrast to the other 99% of Mosel's vineyard area, is located in the state of
Saarland
The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...
, and therefore is supervised by this state's government. All of Moseltor is located within the borders of
Perl
Perl is a family of two high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming languages. "Perl" refers to Perl 5, but from 2000 to 2019 it also referred to its redesigned "sister language", Perl 6, before the latter's name was offici ...
.
Wines
The wines of the Upper Mosel, especially along the Saar and Ruwer tributaries, are characterized by their low
alcohol content in the 6-9% range with intense fruity notes and high acidity. An obscure local poet once described them as 'Sonnenfeuer, Sternengold, Kühlen Mondlichtschein' - The fire of the Sun, the gold of the stars, and cool moonlight. The wines of the Middle Mosel are considered the most complete examples of German wines with some of the finest examples being able to age gracefully for 50–100 years.
Mosel Rieslings rely on a strong presence of
tartaric acid
Tartaric acid is a white, crystalline organic acid that occurs naturally in many fruits, most notably in grapes, but also in bananas, tamarinds, and citrus. Its salt, potassium bitartrate, commonly known as cream of tartar, develops naturally i ...
to balance the grape's sugar and to help impart its fruity notes.
A characteristic of all Mosel wines is their normally high acidity and
transparency of clearly defined flavors. The wines of the Mosel region are traditionally packaged in a long green colored "hock style"
wine bottle. Historically the green color distinguished Mosel wines from the brown bottles of the
Rheinhessen.
Plantings of
Müller-Thurgau
Müller-Thurgau is a white grape variety (sp. ''Vitis vinifera'') which was created by Hermann Müller from the Swiss Canton of Thurgau in 1882 at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in Germany. It is a crossing of Riesling with Madeleine R ...
accounts for more the 20% of the Mosel wine production and is typically used for basic
quaffing wine or sweet wine. The Elbing grape accounts for a little more than 9% of the area's production and is often used as a low-cost riesling alternative in the production of sparkling
Sekt. The Mosel is also well known for its
Eiswein production with the area's characteristic high acidity coupled with the sweetness produced by the concentration of the sugars in the frozen grapes.
Grape varieties
The most cultivated grape varieties, by area in 2008, were:
Associations
There are two major wine growers' associations in the Mosel region, the ''Großer Ring'', which is a regional section of the
VDP, and the ''Bernkasteler Ring''. They both arrange annual
wine auctions
A wine auction may also auction other alcoholic beverages than wine. There are two basic types of wine auctions: ''first hand wine auctions'', where wineries sell their own wines, and ''second hand wine auctions'', arranged by auction houses or ...
of top wines. Producers can submit their wines to the VDP for taste testing to qualify as
reserve wine
Reserve wine is wine of a higher quality than usual, a wine that has been aged before sale, or both. Traditionally, winemakers would reserve some of their best wine rather than sell it immediately, coining the term.
In some countries the use of t ...
s known as ''Erste Lage'' (meaning first site). These wines are subject to several regulations; for example, the harvesting must be by hand and the yield must not exceed 220
cases per
acre
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imp ...
(50
hl/
ha).
[T. Stevenson ''"The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia"'' p. 347, Dorling Kindersley 2005 .]
References
External links
Mosel-Saar-RuwerLink no longer active.
Mosel-Saar-Ruwer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mosel (wine region)
Wine regions of Germany
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...