Mosel

Moselle wine-growing region

Geographical Location
The Moselle wine-growing region extends along the Moselle from the headwaters in the Vosges on the border of Luxembourg to its confluence with the Rhine near Koblenz and on the two tributaries Saar and Ruwer.

Grape Varieties
The area is dominated by white wine varieties with 91%. At 60%, Riesling is by far the most widely grown grape variety, followed by 14% Rivaner, 6% Elbling, 4% Kerner, 4% Pinot Noir, 4% Dornfelder, 3% Pinot Blanc and others.

Climate and Soils
The reason for the dominance of the Riesling grape variety is its special suitability for the growing area. The steep slate slopes above the rivers offer the ideal conditions for the cultivation of the Riesling vine, which produces particularly finely fruity and mineral wines on the Moselle, Saar and Ruwer.

The Moselle is the largest closed steep-slope wine-growing region and the largest Riesling-growing region in the world. Since more than half of the vineyards have steep and terraced locations with a slope of more than 30 degrees.

Feature
A special feature is the very old Elbling variety, which is in third place and is almost 100% only grown on the Moselle.

Size and Locations
The wine-growing region covers 8,981 hectares of vineyards. They are divided into the 5 areas of Bernkastel, Saar, Obermosel, Terrassenmosel and Ruwer, which in turn are divided into 18 major sites and more than 500 individual sites.

Since autumn 2007, the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer region has been renamed the Mosel wine-growing region.