Germany: Bernkastel-Kues and a Primer on Mosel Wine

The Mosel River in Germany produces some very excellent wines, but in America you’d almost never know it because a lot of what is exported tends to be table wine meant for immediate consumption.  That’s not to say that such wines are bad, they’re just not representative of the best quality for the region.  At the Dr. Loosen winery in Bernkastel-Kues we did a 90-minute wine tasting and learning experience, guided by our host (who was originally from Oregon, another nice wine producing area).

Since our appointment was not until the afternoon we had a little bit of time to walk the pretty streets in town.  I was getting a little hungry so I bought a nice fresh raisin roll.

Bernkastel on this side of the river.  Kues is on the opposite.

Pretty much every little town on this river has a castle of varying degrees of repurposing,
usually including dining with a view.

This crooked little building is over 600 years old.
There is a tiny wine bar upstairs.

Hans spotted some nice little details

 

Alright, now for the wine talk.  If you were to look at a bottle of Mosel wine, the label prominently states the name of the town from which the grapes came (with the suffix "er" added), followed by the name of the exact vineyard.  For example, a wine bottle that says "Ürziger Würzgarten" was produced in the town of Ürzig and the grapes were grown in the famous Würzgarten slopes. 

 

The terroir that makes the Mosel River so special for producing wine was recognized by the Celts when they lived in the area.  In fact they originated the heart-shaped trellis technique that is still used today in order to maximize production.  When the ancient Romans came along they were so impressed by the quality of the local wine that they ordered an increase of production to an industrial level (by ancient civilization standards).  Fast forward to the 1860s, when a map of the Mosel vineyards was commissioned by the Prussian government for tax purposes.  Eight different tiers of taxable land were identified but for simplicity the map was colored in only three shades of red, the darkest shade representing the more valuable areas.  The value was determined not by just yield and labor costs but also the quality of the wines.  This Clotten map is very interesting to look at and we were shown how it parallels with the estates owned by Dr. Loosen operations.

The full Clotten map, courtesy of www.larscarlberg.com

Knowledge check: 
Can you identify on this map detail which vineyards produced some of the wines pictured below?

 

 

 Also pictured here are examples of the blue, red, and volcanic slate

The rocky and sandy soil is composed of blue slate, red slate, and a rocky volcanic amalgam formed by slow moving pockets of lava.  Grapes that are grown in blue slate areas (like Bernkastel, Graach, and Wehlen) taste mild in minerality and have flavors of summer fruit like peach and lemon with high acidity.  If the vines are planted in red slate soil (near Ürzig, Erden, Losnich, and Kinheim) they will have a little more minerality and taste of winter orchard fruits.  Finally, wines produced from the volcanic soil have the strongest mineral flavors and also the most exotic fruit flavors like passionfruit, pineapple, and spices.  One such area is the famous Ürziger Wurzgarten (“spice garden”).

One of my favorite facts about Mosel wine is that not only are growers dependent on the rocky slate for its mineral content but also it retains heat from the afternoon sun.  Wine producers will collect slate that has been pushed downhill by erosion or weather by the bucket-full and put it back.  The river harnesses the sunlight in another way for the vine development:  Grapes grown closest to the river receive more sunlight due to the reflection off of the water’s surface.

 

Alright, rather than describing more of Germany's well-defined wine classification system, I encourage readers to read through this thorough Wikipedia article for more information.

On the way back to Cochem we stopped in Ürzig to take in the scenery. 
Up and down the river the notable vineyards have large "Hollywood" style signs.

From Ürzig, facing southeast, you can see the edges of the Erdener Prälat plots, which are well known for producing some of the highest quality wines since they face directly south. 
This provides a higher guarantee of maximum grape ripeness.

Back in Cochem we took a pre-dinner stroll along the hill opposite from the castle.

 

Cochem's castle is on the site of a former thousand-year castle that met the same fate as many others in Germany in 1689: It was blown up by the French.  Two hundred years later a steel baron bought the ruins for cheap and "restored" it in the style of what people in Victorian times imagined a castle should look like.  Sadly, it had to be sold to the Nazi government in 1942 (they used the site to train their lawyers).  Since 1978 it has been owned by the town of Cochem.  We did not go inside but apparently you can tour the tastefully decorated interior or eat at the terrace restaurant.  We enjoyed the distant view instead.

 

We finished our day with a delightful stop at a cosy basement winebar: Alte Gutsschänke.  Their wine list was quite extensive and reasonably priced.  Though for a while it was just me and Hans and a growing party of older locals, we thoroughly enjoyed sharing a bottle of feinherb Riesling, their charcuterie board, and paprika gulasch soup.  I had one or two more glasses of different wines.  I kind of lost count.  I just remember that we were there so long our table candle nearly burned out and our server had to light a new one for us.

Is this place not the cutest? 
The Mosel River is dotted with many other cellar wine bars just like this one.