Piesporter is a

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 ...

made in and around the village of

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 ...

on the north bank of the

Mosel wine 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 (french: Moselle; Luxembourgish: ''Musel''). Before 1 August 2 ...

region of

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 ...

. A white, light body wine that ranges from dry to off-dry, it can be made from

Riesling Riesling (, ; ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling wh ...

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 ...

, or

Elbling Elbling is a variety of white grape (sp. ''Vitis vinifera'') which today is primarily grown in the upstream parts of the Mosel region in Germany and in Luxembourg, where the river is called Moselle. The variety has a long history, and used t ...

grapes. The wine often has a ''

Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete The German wine classification system puts a strong emphasis on standardization and factual completeness, and was first implemented by the German Wine Law of 1971. Nearly all of Germany's vineyards are delineated and registered as one of approxi ...

(QbA)'' classification, meaning that it was produced in accordance with regional

appellation An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...

laws and has been tested for compliance by an official committee. In some cases a Piesporter may be chaptalized with sugar added to the juice before fermentation to increase the alcohol level.

Chaptalization Chaptalization is the process of adding sugar to unfermented grape must in order to increase the alcohol content after fermentation. The technique is named after its developer, the French chemist Jean-Antoine-Claude Chaptal. This process is not in ...

is more common in the “cheap” export Piesporters that are made from the Müller-Thurgau and Elbling varieties. The cheaper wines are often labelled as "Piesporter Michelsberg"—which means that the grapes are from somewhere in the area, as opposed to the first-class vineyards in Piesport itself ("Piesporter Goldtröpfchen" being the most famous one). Despite the poor reputation that Piesporters get from the inferior varieties that often flood the market, Piesporter wine and the village from which they originate have a long and unique history in producing outstanding

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 ...

History

In 371 AD, the Roman poet

Ausonius Decimius Magnus Ausonius (; – c. 395) was a Roman poet and teacher of rhetoric from Burdigala in Aquitaine, modern Bordeaux, France. For a time he was tutor to the future emperor Gratian, who afterwards bestowed the consulship on him ...

described the steep hills surrounding the river bend at Piesport as a natural amphitheatre covered with vines. Archaeological excavations have found several ''Diatretgläser'' (ornate glass Roman drinking vessels that served as status symbols of wealth and importance in Roman times.) At the foot of the Goldtröpfchen vineyard in Piesport, a 4th-century AD Roman press house was discovered in 1985. With 7 basins, it could handle grapes from 60 hectares (148 acres)—making it the largest found north of the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...

. In 1763, Lutheran pastor Johannes Hau convinced the local growers to plant Riesling grape exclusively and donated vines from his own vineyard. Today Riesling is still the dominant grape of the Piesport region. The slate-blue Devonian slate soil is soft, light, and stony, ensuring good water supply, and is especially apt at absorbing the sunshine reflected by the Mosel River upon the steep south-facing slopes. This helps to produce an optimal climate for Riesling grapes, giving “true” Piesporter wine a great finesse, a plethora of aromas, and a crisp and exotic finish.

References

{{coord missing, Germany Wine regions of Germany

History

See also

References