MOSEL: WINDING SLOPES OF SLATE

Barely of drinking age and completely clueless, I remember a bottle of Maximin Grünhäuser Kabinett being one of the first wines that caught my attention. Thinking back, it was the ornate Grünhäuser label affixed to the tall, slender green bottle and the impact of the zippy, sweet flavor on the tongue that would change my trajectory in wine and my ongoing obsession with Riesling. Herr Carl von Schubert, danke schön. 

The wines alone are transportive, with their low alcohol, electrifying acidity, and ripe, apple-laden flavors, balanced by varying degrees of residual sugar; nowhere else on earth produces wines like those of Germany's Mosel Valley. No other wine region looks like the Mosel either—a picturesque valley formed by volcanic eruptions about 15 million years ago, with vertically ascending vines, often individually staked in shards of colorful Devonian slate warmed by the sun reflecting from the serpentine Mosel River below. 

Originating at 735 meters above sea level in the Vosges, the Mosel River flows for 303 km through France, forming a 35-km border between Luxembourg and Germany, and continuing another 206 km from Perl to Koblenz, where it joins the Rhine. The longest tributary of the Rhine, with its own tributaries, the Saar and the Ruwer, makes several hairpin turns, exposing clifffaces which range from 30° to 68° steepness. The valley cut into the Rheinisches Schiefergebirge (Rhenish Slate Mountains or Rheinish Massif) tells you all you need to know about Mosel soils.  

I once asked Ernie Loosen what was underneath the slate, and he gave me a look that suggested my sommelier school should've held me back a year or two. "It's all just slate!" Ernie said. A trained geologist might pick that statement apart. Still, as far as the vines are concerned, Mosel vine roots anchor themselves in slate formed during the Devonian period, around 400 million years ago. The naming of this period comes from Devonshire, England, where British geologists first studied its rocks.

If you attempt to climb to the sundial built by Jodocus Prüm in 1843 on the precipitously steep Wehlener Sonnenuhr, you will do so at your own peril. The gray-blue slate breaks away from your feet and is extremely loose on a dry day, let alone a cold, frosty November morning during harvest. On the steepest cliffs, work is by hand, with many vines still individually staked using Bogrebenerziehung (bow-shaped vine training). About 1500 working hours are needed to cultivate one hectare on the Mosel, compared to 200 hours in the easily mechanized vineyards typical of regions like Rheinhessen. 

Like the Ahr, ungrafted vines are still commonplace in the Mosel. These ungrafted vines (wurzelecht in German) persist because slate limits phylloxera's ability to spread and survive. As a result, one will encounter old vines (Alte Reben) of 50, 70, or even 100+ years of age, which is a godsend for the Mosel grower, already burdened by back-breaking manual labor, looking to avoid replanting as long as the vine is healthy and still productive. 

The Romans conquered the region around 50 BCE, and one of the Roman Empire's capital cities, Trier, was founded in 17 BCE. Vine planting soon followed, though it was not Riesling but Elbling, an ancient variety with origins in the Rhine valley, now with less than 600 hectares planted, mainly in the Upper Mosel, and in neighboring Luxembourg. The Romans cleared the steep slopes near Trier, trained vines on individual stakes, and produced water-fresh wines that in many ways have remained the same for over 2000 years. 

In 1786, Clemens Wenzeslaus, elector and archbishop of Trier, decreed the planting of Riesling throughout the territory because it thrived on steep slate cliffs. By 1910, Riesling accounted for 88% of total plantings on the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer as it was known then. Following the 2007 harvest, the authorities removed the designations Saar and Ruwer from the original name; the region is now known simply as Mosel. As of 2022, Riesling accounts for 62.4% of vineyard land in the Mosel, the highest concentration of any region in Germany.  

At the beginning of the 19th century, Napoleon secularized ecclesiastical estates, and the Napoleonic Code led to the creation of smallholdings for many growers. Thus, a situation not unlike Burgundy arose. The famous 3.26-hectare Bernkasteler Doctor, for example, has five owners and currently six producers (the 0.26-hectare plot owned by Heilig-Geist-Stiftung leases to two producers: Markus Molitor and Schloss Lieser). Cross the bridge to the other side of the Mosel, and you will find Moselland eG in Kues, the largest wine-growing cooperative in Germany with 2,100 member growers producing roughly 20% to 25% of all wine from the Mosel region. While the hobbyist winegrower is in decline, the cooperative remains an essential player in the Mosel business structure. 

The yearly auctions of the Grosser Ring/VDP.Mosel and the Bernkasteler Ring predate the first German wine law in 1892 and today serve as a means to acquire special bottlings from top growers. Originally offered in cask, the auction wines offered today are estate-bottled, often from prized parcels or cellar selections. It's interesting to taste and experience these wines, and neat for collectors or sommeliers to claim an exclusive bottling. Auction wines have never excited me in the same way terroir does, say, in a great GG, so to each their own. 

Besides the Rheingau, the Mosel is the other German wine region with a tradition of nobly sweet Auslese, Beerenauslese, TBA, and Eisweine. It varies by vintage, but the Mosel remains the sole German wine region that produces more off-dry and sweet wines than dry ones, around 60%. Egon Müller's 2003 Scharzhofberger Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese remains the all-time most expensive 750ml bottle of German wine with a hammer price of €14,566 at the VDP.Mosel Auction in Trier. For this taster, a dry estate Riesling from Molitor or Fritz Haag is almost as thrilling. The Mosel does it all.

There are six Bereiche (districts) within the Mosel Weinanbaugebiet (wine region): Moseltor, Obermosel, Saar, Ruwertal, Bernkastel, and Burg Cochem.