The Moselle wine

Development

Let's start with a few facts about Moselle wine. A few decades ago, almost exclusively white wine was grown at the Moselle. Today the picture has changed a bit, but the white wine is still very important and covers 90% area.

The proportion of red wine has increased in recent years and most winemakers offer Dornfelder or Spätburgunder red wines, but the Moselle was and is mainly characterised by white wines.

Riesling & Co.

The most important grape variety for the Moselle is Riesling. According to the 2020/2021 wine statistics, the cultivation area of Riesling covers 5,435 hectares of the 8,744 hectares available.

This is enormous and also for historical reasons, as Riesling has been the most important grape variety for the Moselle for countless years. Favoured by the soil and the climate, the Riesling thrives here optimally and is especially in demand worldwide.

The popularity of Riesling is expected to continue in the future. The wine of this variety is characterised by a fine acidity and great fruit. Riesling is very popular both dry, semidry and semi-sweet. In second place in the statistics comes Müller-Thurgau with 889 ha and then Elbling with 465 ha - all white grape varieties.

Statistics

A total of 1,163,666 hl of wine was produced at the Moselle in 2019. After testing, 694,000 hl of this may at least be designated as quality wine, of which around 90% are white wines. The remaining 10% is divided between red wine and rosé.

In addition, the wine is categorised more precisely according to taste. Two thirds of the quality wines are labeled sweet or sweet. The second largest part is in the dry sector and the smallest part is semidry or semi-sweet. To illustrate the taste more figuratively, one can say across the board that the Moselle region is generally known for fruity wines. In addition, they usually have a lower alcohol content compared to southern wines.

Taste

In the interplay between acidity and sweetness, the wines of the Moselle are considered harmonious and with good extracts. Above all, the combination of residual sweetness and fruity acidity characterises the Moselle wine and especially the Riesling as the ideal accompaniment to every meal.