Your historic holiday home on the Mosel

A brief history.

The story of wine production in quantity on the Mosel starts with the Romans. Towards the southern end of the Mosel and near to the Luxembourg border lies the Town of Trier. Trier is the oldest town in Germany and dates back to before 16BC. During the Roman era Trier had four city gates one of which still remains today. During the reign of Diocletian the Roman emperor between the years 284 to 305, the city flourished to become an important administrative centre and trading post within the Roman Empire in Europe. One of the commodities that travelled through the city was of course wine on transit from the southern European regions of the empire to the northern states. It soon became apparent that the climate on the Mosel was ideal for making wine thus resulting in a more profitable venture for the Romans. A further succession of emperors cemented the whole area as an important wine growing area and passed laws to encourage and protect the vineyards. By the turn of the millennium the main producers were the monasteries. By the 12-14th centuries the wine production was at its all time high, the largest wine production area in Europe. Following this high period followed a decline in manufacturing due mainly to climate change, political unrest and the resulting wars. In the first half of the last century disease of the wine stocks, war and financial recession took its toll on the region and once again the wine production dropped. From the mid 1950s the Mosel has once again seen a revival.
Today the main variety is the Riesling, which represents about 21% of the total areas production, with about 53200 acres producing a total yield of some 1,600,000 hl of wine. This is followed by the Müller- Thurgau which has about 19% of the total production area. There are also many smaller varieties; a few of these are Silvaner, 6.5%, Kerner 6%, Bacchus 5%, Dornfelder 5%, and many others.

Understanding the German Classification.
Apart from the obvious differences between the grape varieties. There are some important distinguishing categories which German wine is divided into. Basically there are four main groups.
· Tafelwein (Table wine)
· Landwein (Wine from the country)
· Qualitätswein Bestimmer Anbaugebeite. This is commonly abbreviated to Q.b.A on the bottle label. (Quality wine from a particular region).
· Qualitätswein mit. Prädikat This sometimes labelled as Prädikatswein. Again the common abbreviation is Q.m.P. (Quality wine with distinction)
The distinctions do not stop there. The wines are then in the case of Q.b.A and Q.m.P. once again distinguished by their sugar content of the grape “MUST”. All have their own distinguishing note. The late Eiswein being one of the sweetest. The grapes for the Eiswein are only picked when the temperature is below -7 degrees. The The winemakers stay alert and when the correct temperature is reached they quickly pick the grapes. This is sometimes done at night by torchlight. Each grape is then hand selected to make the wine. You will proberbly see one of the following classifications on the bottle.
· Kabinett (Cabinet)
· Spätlese (Late harvest)
· Auslese (Select harvest)
· Beerenaulese (Select berry harvest)
· Trockenbeerenauslese (T.B.A.) (Select dried berry harvest)
· Eiswein (Ice wine)
There are many other complex regulations that German wine producers must adhere too. For example only Tafelwein, Landwein and Q.b.A. may have sugar added to enhance the finished product, however before fermantation sugar is often added to the brew for all the other classifications too. Grape juice is sometimes added to sweeten wine at the finishing stages to further complicate the issue. There are also rules regarding alcoholic content. Labelling and registration also have strict regulations too. The best way to establish the pedigree of the wine you are drinking is ask the producer! The less sulphites and and added sugar the better the wine. Reading the label will speak volumes in the German wine industry but more importantly "probieren" (wine tasting) will tell you the most. When in doubt ask! Come and meet the producers.
The following tables show the differences and explanations of the distinctions.

Must weight is a measure of the amount of sugar in grape juice (must), and hence indicates the amount of alcohol that could be produced if it is all fermented to alcohol, rather than left as residual sugar While must weight is a commonly used term among wine makers, the physically correct term would be must density. In Germany it is measured in degrees Oechsle(°Oe) and is an important part of the German wine classification.
The Oechsle scale forms the basis of most of the German wine classification. In the highest quality category, Prädikatswein (formerly known as Qualitätswein mit Prädikat, QmP), the wine is assigned a Prädikat based on the Oechsle reading of the must. The regulations set out minimum Oechsle readings for each Prädikat, which depend on wine-growing regions and grape variety
Kabinett - 67-82 °Oe
Spätlese - 76-90 °Oe
Auslese - 83-100 °Oe
Beerenauslese and Eiswein 110-128° Oe (Eiswein is made by late harvesting grapes after they have frozen on the vine and not necessarily affected by noble rot, botrytis, which is the case with Beerenauslese)
Trockenbeerenauslese -150-154 °Oe (affected by botrytis)
The sugar content indicated by the Oechsle scale only refers to the unfermented grape must, never to the finished wine.

Next i will be adding a little more about each grape variety and the specific growing areas.