Mosel and Wine

Perhaps the most intriguing and picturesque landscape in all of Germany’s wine country lies along the peaceful banks of the Mosel (which used to be listed as Mosel-Saar-Ruwer on labels until recently).

The Mosel River stretches from its spring in the French Vosges along the Luxemburg border for almost 320 miles northeast, where it finally empties into the Rhine near the quaint town of Koblenz.

Wine Production in the Mosel

While wine production has existed here for centuries, the cultivation and harvest has always remained problematic. The mechanization that has made the lives of vintners in other areas so much easier has proved difficult or impossible to apply to many of the Mosel's steep slopes. Wine production here is a tough, backbreaking job and in that way, little has changed in the last 2000 years. From pruning and weeding to the harvest itself, most of the work is still done by hand.

From Romans and Monks...

The Mosel is riddled with historic towns from Trier to Koblenz and provides for a most scenic journey and unique travel opportunity. With over 75 historic towns along the amazing 320-mile journey, there is something for everyone. Known as Europe’s oldest independent cultural landscape, it is an incredible sight to be seen!

Divided into three sections, the upper, middle and lower Mosel, the adorable towns along its banks have been settled for thousands of years, dating back to the Stone Age (4000 - 3000 BC). Traces of an early settlement and other artifacts have been found near the town of Bernkastel-Kues, making it one of the first Mosel settlements.

Earliest recorded history is from the Celts around 500 BC, when the first high culture was developed. Romans settled in the area around 100 BC and realized the potential of the local area for viticulture. In 15 BC, they founded the city of Trier between today's upper and middle Mosel, where a multitude of Roman ruins still bear witness to the city's past.

In the early Middle Ages, the Franks appeared and established impressive monasteries that began to spread Christianity while maintaining local wine growing traditions. This was the heyday of Romanesque architecture and many notable castles and cultural highlights were constructed during this period. The end of the Thirty Years’ War and the French occupation marked the beginnings of today’s modern viticulture and tourism. French Emperor Napoleon also introduced a law that still has a negative impact on modern viticulture in the Mosel today. To prevent large scale land ownership, Napoleon required land to be equally distributed among heirs, leading to the many individually owned tiny parcels of land that still exist in the Mosel today.

Riesling Wine at the Middle Mosel

The Middle Mosel begins at the village of Zell and extends to just north of Schweich, passing the famous villages of Bernkastel and Piesport. Here more than anywhere else, the slate-based soils bestow the wines with a lovely minerality. The Middle Mosel, where Pünderich belongs to, produces the finest, most complete examples of Riesling.

To add to their charm, intense fruit flavours and minerality, Mosel Rieslings often have a slight hint of effervescence giving them extra vitality. Most Kabinetts are at their best when young but the late and selectively harvested styles from Spätlesen upwards definitely benefit from ageing. The Mosel is also well known for its exceptional Eiswein with a wonderful acidity balancing the intensely concentrated sugars from the frozen grapes.

With some vines planted at an astounding 70 degree gradient, mechanical harvesting is clearly impractical here. Indeed nearly seven times more man-hours are needed in the Mosel over the course of a season than in flatter regions like the Médoc. Given such production costs, prices here remain surprisingly fair.