Mosel

"Saar" stems from the Celtic word Sara (streaming water), and that's what it is: a shallow river that rises from the Vosges and flows northward from France to Germany, where the Saar empties into the Mosel at Konz. It's the last 12 kilometers of the Mosel's largest tributary, where you'll find a series of steep, south-facing vineyards that read like a Grand-award winning wine list: Saarburger Rausch, Ayler Kupp, Kanzemer Altenberg, and, of the most famous of them all, Scharzhofberg.

In his classic book, The Wines of Germany, Frank Schoonmaker wrote of Saar wines, "There is a combination of qualities that I can best describe as indescribable." Saar wines taste distinctly different from the Middle Mosel due to their elevation, proximity to the Hunsrück mountains, and cooler climate. The wines are generally lighter, intensely aromatic, and often come with piercing acidity.

Like the rest of the Mosel, Riesling is a dominant variety, and Devonian slate characterizes all the best vineyards. There are pockets of volcanic diabase, most famously at Saarburger Rausch, and reddish iron layers of Rotliegiend in several sites, including the Scharzhofberg and Kanzemer Altenberg. For a survey of Saar's top vineyard sites, I recommend the VDP's online tool: VDP.Vineyard.Online, which identifies the vineyards classified as VDP.Grosse Lage, aka, the grand crus.

Starting way upriver in Serrig, the monopole site of Schloss Saarstein is the Serriger Schloss Saarstein. Greywacke soil with slate, this steep vineyard overlooking the Saar climbs to 220 meters of elevation, and the wines have accentuated acidity and long-aging potential. The next village of Saarburg is home to the Saarburger Rausch, a well-protected vineyard facing the charming town of Saarburg. Devonian slate with volcanic basalt, known as diabase, gives these wines a distinct character. Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken and Dr. Wagner are the producers to know here.

In Ockfen is the famous amphitheater-shaped Ockfener Bockstein, a classic Saar site of Devonian slate cultivated since Roman times; Bockstein is capable of some of the Saar's finest wines. The Bockstein has many owners, and Von Othegraven makes outstanding wines here. The Ayler Kupp is a 50-hectare hillside of several historic parcels, bottled separately by Peter Lauer: Unterstenberg, Stirn, Kern, and Neuenberg.

At this point in our journey towards the Mosel, the Saar appears to split due to a manufactured canal between Biebelhausen and Hamm, creating an artificial island in arguably the filet section of the Saar. Here, perched above the Saar, is the impressive Van Volxem winery, with holdings of several VDP.Grosse Lage sites throughout the Saar Valley. Wawern lies in a side valley to the west where Van Volxem has holdings in Ritterpfad and Goldberg. It's also where you'll find Von Othegraven's monopole: Großer Herrenberg.

Skipping to the other side of the island, we've now arrived at Scharzhofberg, an Orsteil belonging to the village of Wiltigen and Germany's most famous vineyard. While several excellent VDP estates like Von Hövel, von Kesselstatt, and Van Volxem have holdings here, Scharzhofberg links directly to Egon Müller. Weathered slate with high iron content, good aeration, and perfect exposure, the Egon Müller Scharzhofberg gives legendary wines with incredible longevity and jaw-dropping prices at auction.

Flowing downstream, the final bends in the river give us the spectacularly steep Gottesfuß (Van Volxem, von Kesselstatt), Braune Kupp (Le Gallais/Egon Müller), Wiltigen Kupp (Von Othegraven), and last but not least the Kanzemer Altenberg. The Altenberg, "as steep as the Matterhorn," as Von Othegraven's owner Günther Jauch likes to say, is an exceptional site with iron-laden sections of weathered Devonian slate. 

Pfalz

Standing at the edge of the vineyards in Forst, looking upward towards the Pfälzerwald, you could just as easily imagine yourself in Morey-Saint-Denis or Puligny. Like the Côte d’Or, vineyards face east over a plain, and some of the sites, most famously Forster Kirchenstück, are even surrounded by a Clos. Of course, this celebrated section of the Pfalz, between Kallstadt and Ruppertsberg, makes up only a tiny percentage of Germany’s second-largest wine region. The Pfalz has 23,684 hectares of vineyard (only Rheinhessen claims more). While Jesuitengarten, Ungeheuer, Pechstein, and previously mentioned Kirchenstück are planted almost entirely in Riesling, the leading producers of the southern Pfalz deliver some of Germany’s finest Spätburgunder and Weißburgunder. The Pfälzer celebrate their dry and full-bodied wines and their regional cuisine through a seemingly neverending series of festivals, making the Pfalz the region for the Feinschmecker.

As written in English, the Palatinate, a variation of Palast from the Roman Palatium, is the region’s historical name, covering more territory than the Weinanbaugebiet today. The wine region is an 85-kilometer stretch of vineyards running north to south, situated under the lee of the Pfalz Forest on the Haardt Mountains, a continuation of Alsace’s Vosges. Bad Dürkheim, Neustadt an der Weinstraße, and Landau are its three main cities and 130 villages between Bockenheim bordering Rheinhessen, and Schweigen bordering Alsace fall within two bereiche: the Mittelhaardt-Deutsche Weinstraße and the Südliche Weinstraße. In former times, the divisions were Unterhaardt, Mittelhaardt, and Oberhaardt, but the construction of the Deutsche Weinstraße in 1936 (an idea conceived by the Third Reich to encourage economic growth) led to its current organization. The northern vineyards with ecclesiastical origins and classified in the 1828 Bavarian Land Registry were always historically more significant than the southern area, which until recently was Schoppenwein country, its wines served by the tankard in Weinstuben or sold in bulk, sometimes destined for the Mosel.

Back to the food-friendly style of its wines, the Pfalz climate is much like that of Alsace or Baden and is one of the warmest, sunniest, and driest wine regions in Germany. As in Alsace, its complex geology is the result of millions of years of upheaval and tectonic activity, with areas of sandstone, basalt, limestone, sand, gravel, and löss. A broad range of grape varieties can produce a whole lot of interesting results, and while Riesling is king with 6,000 hectares planted, Dornfelder, Grauburgunder, Müller-Thurgau, Spätburgunder are planted in significant quantities along with Portugieser, Silvaner, Weißburgunder, Gewürztraminer, Kerner, Chardonnay, Morio-Muskat and Sauvignon Blanc. All the variety is what’s needed to pair with the local cuisine. Saumagen, literally “sow’s stomach,” is stuffed with a mixture of pork, potatoes, and seasonings, while a variety of Würste become the snack of Weck, Worscht un Woi (bun, sausage, and wine). Dampfnudeln, potatoes, and sauerkraut are part of the regional fare, but as a wise wine merchant once said, Pfalz wine is easily at home with the finest cuisine.