The vineyards of the Mosel

The Mosel

The Mosel

Mosel, Saar, Ruwer & Ahr

1 - 5 October 2008

One of the fastest growing sectors of the wine trade is quality German wine so it is fitting that we should have a new tour that takes you to the heartland of the Mosel and its tributory rivers the Saar and Ruwer.

We had a great line up of visits, some that we have been visiting for years and some brand new estates from our recent research in the area. On our first evening we dine at the Palais Kesselstatt in Trier tasting the wines of Reichsgraf Von Kesselstatt. These are fine wines with vivid fruit and a neat focused character.

Our first morning tasting was with Wgt Ayler Kupp, one of the rising stars of the Saar who are reinterpreting the famous vineyard of the Ayler Kupp with stunning results. We continued to Schlöss Saarstein to taste their superb Saar Rieslings on their terrace with its stunning views over the valley. We had lunch at the Schloss. Return to Trier for the rest of the afternoon.

We were originally going to visit Von Othegraven, the main estate in the Kanzem Altenburg vineyard. This is the only great south facing vineyard actually on the River Saar. (The other great vineyard are in side valleys at 90º to the river). This gives the Altenburg’s wines a richness which interplays with their Saar character, that austere, steely core. Unfortunately, at the last minute they could not see us so we went to Von Hovel, famed for the Scharzhoberg wines who we have visited many times before. What a hardship this was! Von Hovel’s Schazhofberg wines with their depth and minerality are sheer perfection of this style of Riesling.

After this we visited the delightful Ruwer valley. The best wines from the Ruwer have a delicacy about them with fine leafy, blackcurrant aromas and none are better than those of Weingut Karlsmuhle where we tasted and had lunch.

For the first part of the tour we stayed in Trier and after this in the Mosel wine village of Zeltingen. We then moved onto the Mosel River itself and over the next day and a half met some of the top wine makers responsible for the revival of the German wine industry, Dr. Dirk Richter of Max-Ferd Richter, Ernst Loosen of Dr Loosen and Theo Haart of Reinhold-Haart.

We tasted some of the greatest Rieslings in the world, from top sites in the Mosel such as Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Ürziger Würzgarten and Brauneberger Juffer. In these vineyards, among the most enchanting in Europe we encountered elegant, racy and stylish Rieslings, these were in the main fairly dry but we also tasted specialities such as Beerenauslese and Eiswein which are intensely sweet.

On our return journey, we visited the Ahr valley just north of the Mosel which is having a great revival. Here, with the great Weingut Meyer-Nakel, we tasted stunning Pinot Noir. The quality of the Pinot Noir made in the Ahr, indeed in much of Germany has increased vastly over the past few years.

This was a fabulous wine holiday for the small party of wine enthusiast on the tour.