Wine region
Mosel
The Mosel: steep slate slopes, about 8,300 hectares, Riesling on over 60 per cent of the vineyard, plus the side valleys of the Saar and Ruwer.
- Vineyard area
- about 8,300 hectares, about 90 per cent white varieties
- Main grapes
- Riesling (over 60 per cent), Müller-Thurgau, Elbling, Pinot Noir
- Soils
- Devonian slate on the Middle and Lower Mosel, Saar and Ruwer; shell limestone on the Upper Mosel
- Signature wines
- Riesling from Kabinett to Trockenbeerenauslese, Elbling
- Landmark
- Bremmer Calmont, regarded as Europe’s steepest vineyard
The Mosel rises in the Vosges, flows through France and Luxembourg and, from Perl onwards, winds in tight loops through the slate hills between the Eifel and the Hunsrück down to Koblenz. About 8,300 hectares of vines grow here, including those of its two tributaries, the Saar and the Ruwer; until 2007 the region was therefore called Mosel-Saar-Ruwer. Six Bereiche divide it up, among them Bernkastel on the Middle Mosel, Burg Cochem on the Lower Mosel, the Upper Mosel, the Saar and the Ruwer.
Steep slopes give the Mosel its face. Many vineyards are so steep that only hand work is possible; the Bremmer Calmont is regarded as the steepest vineyard in Europe. On the Middle and Lower Mosel, the Saar and the Ruwer the soil is Devonian slate, a dark rock that stores heat by day and gives it back at night. The steep south-facing slopes, the slate and the light reflected from the river bring Riesling reliably to ripeness in this cool climate. The Upper Mosel, by contrast, is shell limestone, and there grows Elbling, a very old variety that gives fresh, light wines and sparkling wine.
More than 60 per cent of the vineyard is Riesling, followed by Müller-Thurgau, Elbling and Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir). Mosel Riesling is light, racy and fruity, with aromas of green apple, peach and citrus, often a smoky, stony note and lively acidity. A fruity, off-dry or sweet Kabinett often gets by on only 7 to 9 per cent alcohol. The German Prädikat system measures the ripeness of the grapes at harvest: Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Eiswein, Trockenbeerenauslese. It says how ripe the grapes were, not how sweet the finished wine is; Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese also exist as dry wines.
The Romans brought winegrowing to the Mosel on a large scale. In 1878 a relief of a wine ship from about AD 220 was found at Neumagen, and in the 4th century the poet Ausonius praised the vine slopes in his “Mosella”. Today the top sites include the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and the Bernkasteler Doctor on the Middle Mosel, the Scharzhofberg on the Saar and Maximin Grünhaus on the Ruwer. From a Swiss point of view, the terraces recall Valais and Lavaux; true Riesling is a rarity in Switzerland, with fewer than 30 hectares, because “Riesling-Silvaner” is Müller-Thurgau.
What to drink it with: a dry or off-dry Riesling with fish such as trout or whitefish, a Kabinett with asparagus and sushi, an off-dry Riesling with spicy Asian food, because a touch of sugar tames the heat, a Spätlese with poultry and fruit desserts, an Auslese with blue cheese.