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I-love-german-wine-and-food----a-mosel-dornfelder
If you are looking for fine German wine and food, consider the Mosel region of central western Germany on the border of Luxembourg. You may find a bargain, and I hope that you'll have fun on this fact-filled wine education tour in which we review a local red Dornfelder.
The Mosel Valley is considered one of the world's most beautiful river valleys. This region, formerly known as Mosel-Saar-Ruwer in honor of its three rivers, is famous for its Riesling. Some of the greatest Rieslings in Germany and in fact in the entire world come from Mosel. Experts can often identify Mosel Rieslings because of the slate in the local soil, which may impart a taste of flint. The slopes are among the steepest in the wine-producing world, sometimes attaining 70 degrees. The soil is so precious that every spring local workers lug pails of soil up these slopes, reversing the effect of the rains that wash the soil down every winter.
Mosel is fifth among the thirteen German wine regions for both vineyard acreage and total wine production. Slightly more than three quarters of the wine produced here is QbA and somewhat less than one quarter is higher quality QmP wine. Only one percent is table wine. More than half of Mosel wine is Riesling. The German hybrid white Mueller-Thurgau grape represents about 20% of the wine production. In third place is the historic variety Elbing that dates back to Roman times and is the major grape variety in the neighboring country of Luxembourg. Only about 2% of Mosel wine is red, so perhaps we were lucky to find a Dornfelder, reviewed below. Dornfelder is a German variety which is also grown in the United States and, believe it or not, in Burma. Created in 1955, It is a cross between two crosses,. One of Dornfelder's four "grandparents" is Pinot Noir.
The Mosel Valley stretches from the city of Koblenz not far from Germany's former capital Bonn to Trier sitting quite close to the Luxemberg border. These two cities are linked by the Mosel Weinstrasse (Mosel Wine Road) which is about 140 miles (224 kilometers) long on the eastern side of the river and somewhat less on the western side. Of course, you could take the autobahn to get between Koblenz and Trier at breakneck speed. If you do, you'll miss the interesting little towns and vineyards along the way.
The Trier Valley was first settled about 2400 years ago. The city of Trier itself was founded in 16 BC. Within three hundred years it was destroyed and rebuilt as a Roma secunda (second Rome). A unique aspect of this wine-exporting city is its underground cellars said to have a storage capacity of almost 8 million gallons. Among the sights to see are in Trier the Porta Nigra (Black Gate) dating back to Roman times, the Dom which is the oldest Christian church north of the Alps, the Rheinisches Landesmuseum (Rhenish State Museum) with the largest collection of Ancient Roman artifacts in Germany, an Amphitheater that holds real gladiator games, minus the lions, every summer, other Roman ruins, and the house in which Karl Marx
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