If and when you happen to travel to Germany, it becomes mandatory to pay a visit to the thirteen lands which are considered holy for the spirit, with all the puns intended. There is nothing more beautiful than the highly intriguing and picturesque landscapes of these regions. Formally, Mosel, one of the thirteen German wine regions is formally known as Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, but this name was changed to the much shorter Mosel because it was believed to be friendlier for the consumers. Its name comes from the Mosel River.
The expanses of the region occupy the entire valley of the river Mosel, Saar and Ruwer. In-fact it begins right at the mouth of the river Mosel at a locale known as Koblenz and then it extends towards the upstream sections of the river reaching the Trier region which is located in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The area is also famous for the vineyards which are located on some of the steepest slopes in the whole world. As a matter of fact the Calmont vineyard which is located on Mosel, situated in the village of Bremm is on an inclined plain of 65 degrees. It is regarded as the steepest recorded vineyard in the world and is thus referred to as – Bremmer Calmont.
River Mosel is quite literally the sinuous spine of the Mosel region. This is indeed true, when you travel on the river, you will realise that it meanders for almost 250 kilometres or 150 miles while going northeast in the direction of the Rhine. Mosel provides the region with a geographic unity, forming a complete whole. Each of its tributaries provides with a distinctive characteristic through which the flavouring of the wine is developed. The water and the soul play a pivotal role in the wine making process.
The Mosel has managed to reach fame and fortune all because of the wine culture that has been existent rather evidently for generations. All they talk about in this region are wines. The most popular varieties of wines here are made from the Riesling grapes. Among other verities are: Elbling and Müller-Thurgau which contribute heavily to the production processes of wines among other things. Moreover, in the last twenty odd years the production of red wine, specifically from the Spätburgunder, popularly known as the Pinot noir has managed to increase its outreach across the world. It is one of the most sought after wine brands today in the world markets.
One of the major factors which influences the taste and flavouring of the wines is the location of the river Mosel. Now, due to the northern location of Mosel the wines produced that is the Riesling wines are characteristic of being light, tending to lower alcohol, they also have a crispy edge along with being high in acidity and often they exhibit a flowery enigma. All these features have enabled the wine to avoid the typical fruity aroma. The numerous verities of slate deposits in the soil facilitate the texture building of the wine. For instance, the wines from this region are more transparent, carry aspects of minerals, and often have an enriching and deep flavours.
It is also important to mention that climate change has had an adverse effect on the wine industry as the degeneration of soil and water resources has a direct impact on wine making.
History
Viticulture or the science, production and the study of grapes – it formally deals with the many events that occur in the vineyards and branches out of the science of horticulture. So, this tradition is believed to have been introduced in this region by the Romans who planted vineyards for the first time along the Mosel and the Rhine so that their garrisons can be replenished through the local sources. If they were to transport wine straight from the Italian Peninsula or across the Vosges Mountains, in that case the vineyards around the region of Gaul would have been high and utterly impractical. It was in the same regard that the Romans decided upon the construction of a canal in between the rivers Rhine and Saône prior to their decision of establishing vineyards in the local area. The founding stones of Trier were laid sometime around 16th century BC and were regarded as an important Roman outpost. Henceforth the first vineyards were brought about around the 2nd century in the neighbouring slopes. The tradition of viticulture in the due course prospered and reached fantastical heights. All of this is had been made at the hands of the Roman poet Ausonius who in the 4th century wrote a poem describing the beauty of the land during the time of harvest.
Wine belonging to the Mosel region was characterised in terms of having a light body and being austere. Back in the day it was considered to be the easier drinking wine than which were made available from the other Roman areas. During the time of winters wines were often heated in a kettle and then were drunk exactly like tea. Interestingly enough this practice is very much alive in many of the vineyards of the region. It is truly a fascinating site when the workers in the modern day vineyards gather together at the end of a hard days’ worth of labour and sip wine like coffee, sometimes they also add sugar to it and savour the taste.
You can also notice the change in flavour of the wine at the time of warmer seasons. During summers the wine becomes fruity and sweet. The heat and the warmth allow the grapes to mature further and thus the sweetness quite literally erupts. Wines produced during these seasons are very much rich in the levels of residual sugar.
Around the Middle Ages there were many villages whose sole and complete occupation was the production and selling of wine. They were known as: Winzerdörfer. Usually, at the centre of the town was a community wine cellar where all the members of the wine growing community could gather and store their wines. Among the Winzerdörfer, the most popular and well known was the village of Bernkastel. The Bernkastel was the recipient of town rights in the year 1291.
It was under the rule of Count John VI of Katzenelnbogen in 1435 that for the first time Riesling was planted in the town of Rüsselsheim. Riesling is a rather well known variety of grapes which is white in colour and traces its origins to the very Rhine valley region of Germany. The well-known feature of Riesling is its aromatic characteristic. Also, these grapes display a very flowery aroma instead of the fruity pungency. Today many verities of dry, semi-sweet, sweet and sparling white wines are made out of these grapes. These varieties are seldom oaked and are mostly pure. It is placed among the top three whine brands from all over the world. Preceding to the Riesling are: Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc. Riesling is considered to be highly terroir-expressive which brings forth its character. The following variety were first planted by Count John VI of Katzenelnbogen in the vineyards of – the Destil, in Burgen and Kochem. Some more were planted along the river Mosel. Around the 16th century vineyard owners used a range of explosives for the purpose of breaking the vertical spurs of rock along the rivers.
Then towards the end of the 17th century the river Mosel itself began to be greatly identified with the wine made from the Riesling grapes. Certain ecclesiastical institutions such as the St. Maximin’s Abbey in Trier owned as many as 74 vineyards and towards the very end of the 17th century specifically in 1695, they had over a hundred thousand vines of the Riesling vine category. Today as well, the Riesling variety is regarded to be the best that comes from Germany.
During the 18th century, Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony, the Prince elector of Trier released a mandate decreeing that for a period of seventy years each and every vine planted in the Mosel area was to belong to the Riesling only. When the House of Hanover came to power in the Great Britain an increased amount of exportation of the Moselle wine was witnessed. However, due to the high prices of the Moselle wine it was ultimately only in access with the Royal courts along with the other nobility. The wine did not manage to replace the claret in the many taverns of the villages.
When the 19th century came about, the many wine industries along Mosel saw huge amounts of prosperity which started with the vintage of 1819. For the remaining part of the next decade that is the 1820’s, the processes were in many ways blessed with outstanding weather conditions along with sterling production of wines. In the same regard the Prussian government lowered the tariffs on the import of the Mosel wines to the myriad regions of the Prussian kingdom.
The above tariff reduction scheme was a result of the Zollverein custom. Zollverein or the German Customs Union was a kind of coalition between the German states which came together for the purpose of mutual benefits arising out of trade within their territories. This custom arose into formal existence on the 1st of January in 1834 and was a result of the many treaties, the Zollverein treaties that were sighed during the preceding year.
The prime motivating force behind these developments came through Prussia. One of the states that were left out of the Union was Austria. Austria’s industries were highly protected and its ruler at that time, Prince von Metternich was completely against this idea. Furthermore, when in 1867 the North German Confederation came into existence. The total area under the Unions influence was roughly 425,000 kilometres squared. Through the confederation many agreements were also signed between the non-German states and thus a wide outreach mechanism was established. In 1871 when the German Empire was created it took over the complete control of the Union. Despite that till about 1888 not all of the states of the German Empire were under the control of the Zollverein. Luxembourg which was not a part of the German Reich remained a formal member till about 1919.
With all these politico-administrative developments underway, production began to suffer due to a series of ill weather conditions through the 1930s and early parts of 1940s. As a result the prosperity levels also began to come down rather drastically. 1950s saw an upturn with the discovery of chaptalization. Chaptalization is a process through which sugar is added into the unfermented grapes so that the alcoholic content could be increased after the fermentation process. This process was developed by Jean-Antoine-Claude Chaptal, a French Chemist. The aim of this process is indeed not to make the wine sweeter, instead of that the yeast gets more sugar to act upon and as a result the fermentation works better and thus more alcoholic content is achieved.
This process however was beneficial at times of poor weather conditions but was met with violent demonstrations at the hands of protesters in 1907 and as a result the French government particularly brought forth laws through which it was able to regulate the amount of sugar that can be added to the wine.
During the time of adverse conditions another boon came from the then British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone. He lowered the duties on light wines due to which the market of Britain almost instantaneously opened its gates for the low cost Mosel wines. Through these measures the myriad wine industries gained confidence and brought back the times of their prosperity. One of the net effects of this was that a greater emphasis was put forward on the quality of the wine rather than the sheer quantity produced.
The production process also reached newer areas because of the newer areas which were earlier considered unsuitable for the production of the vine. Rieslings were planted by the easier to grow Müller-Thurgau and other Riesling crossings. When the 20th century came through North America became one of the first from the new world to taste the gorgeous taste of Riesling.
Climate and Geography
The wine region of Mosel is composed of a continental climate type. This particular kind is marked by cooler temperatures. Among the most productive vineyards, they are mostly located around the river Mosel and its various tributaries. At these locations the heat gets maximised due to the presence of the water source nearby. This does in-fact facilitate in the ripening of the grapes. Along with this, the soil is of a porous slate kind which facilitates the appropriate amount of drainage as the region receives heavy rainfall along with having good heat retention properties. Throughout the best of the vineyards in the region, the one thing that remains common is that they do not have a top soil and just broken slate. The hottest average temperatures just provide the adequate amount of warmth, but they are hardly hot. July is the hottest month and around this time the temperature averages at 64 degrees Fahrenheit or 18 degrees centigrade.
The region is dominated by the Mosel river and can broadly be divided into three main sections. Southern most section is the Upper Mosel and it is the closest to the rivers origins which is near about to the border regions of France and Luxembourg. In this region you can also find the tributaries – Saar and Ruwer and the city of Trier. The main wine growing region falls under Middle Mosel or Mittelmosel. This section includes the prominent villages of: Bernkastel and Piesport. Mittelmosel originates at the point where the village of Zell is located and then goes further in the south, just about reaching the northern sections of the village Schweich. Composition of the slate soil here has the most recognisable terroir with the wines, in particular Riesling. Lower Mosel is composed of the southern portions of the city of Koblenz and the village of Alf which is near about to Zell. This section is the northern most wine producing region of the Mosel valley and also shows an interesting fusion whit the Rhine River.
Viticulture
In and around the region formed by the river Mosel you can find scattered river bank slopes. These slopes are regarded as some of the most labour intensive and difficult vineyards in the whole world. As per certain estimations, as a result of the impracticality associated with mechanical harvesting, these vineyards require nearly seven times more man hours than what would be required on any flatter terrain. Individualised stalking of the grapevines is conducted without the use of wires. This is done so that the workers can tend to the plants which end up growing horizontally throughout the vineyard.
The region has also experienced fatalities among workers while they are engaged on the field. Hence vineyard owners overemphasise on safety issues. However, it is not all that bad. More sunlight is accessed by the plantations because of their location on an inclined plain. Soil erosion is also witnessed during winters and rainy days. This happens particularly in the vital slate chips that are most required for their heat retention properties. You can also find workers carrying uphill these eroded pieces and placing them again in the vineyards.
Since 2008, the Riesling variety of grapes has managed to be produced on an average 59.75 of the regions surface. These kinds of grapes require a comparatively cooler climatic condition and hence cannot be planted everywhere and anywhere. Among other factors is the right amount of altitude, the aspects and sunlight exposure. A combination of these factors result in the famous taste and quality of the wine produced.
In locations where the Riesling cannot be planted, here you can find the cultivation of – Müller-Thurgau grape which comprise of 14.7 % of the production, Kerner which occupies 4.6% of the space along with sub varieties of Riesling. The Riesling variety of wines is largely underprized in comparison with its completion which includes the likes of: Bordeaux, Burgundy and California in the global markets. In the past, such price wars have resulted in small time wine producers to exit the business as they were unable to cope up with the sheer intensity of the larger winegrowers.