White Wine from the Moselle

The white wine and the Moselle are strongly connected. For our wine region as well as for our winery the white wine is trademark and livelihood. The Mosel wine region is best known for its white wines, which are usually with a great fruit and are requested worldwide. Here you can find out more about the white wine in Germany, the Moselle and our winery.

Where is white wine grown in Germany?
This point is quickly ticked off, as white wine is present in all known German wine-growing regions and white grape varieties are consistently grown here. From the more north-western growing areas Ahr and Middle Rhine to Lake Constance near the German border as well as in the eastern wine regions Saale-Unstrut and Saxony, white grape varieties are to be found. White wine is therefore available in all wine regions, but the proportions per region and the grape varieties are very different.

What is the share of white wine in Germany?
There are different points of view here. Let's start with which areas in Germany are stocked with white wine vines. According to German wine statistics 2018/2019, the total vineyard area in Germany amounts to 102,592 ha in 2017. 66,2% of this area or 67,922 ha are planted with white wine varieties. From the grapes harvested in 2017, 4,693,000 hl of white wine could be generated. This means that in Germany about 62% of the wines produced are white wines.

With regard to the consumption of white wine in Germany, additional import and export must be confiscated. In 2017, 901,000 hl were exported. Whole 6,693,000 hl of white wine were imported mainly from Italy, France and Spain. This amount corresponds well to 1.5 times the German white wine production.

Which grape varieties are there with white wine?
There are an estimated hundreds, if not thousands, of grape varieties worldwide. With regard to white grape varieties in Germany, the following grape varieties should be mentioned in descending order of their share in German wine-growing regions:

Riesling, Müller-Thurgau, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Silvaner, Kerner, Chardonnay, Bacchus, Scheurebe, Chasselas, Sauvignon Blanc, Traminer, Elbling, Ortega, Huxelrebe.

The white grape varieties Riesling and Müller-Thurgau, which accounted for a good half of the total white wine area in 2017, are especially present. However, the Müller-Thurgau seems to lose some popularity, as here Rebfläche has fallen sharply since 1995. Win could Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc. The proportion of Riesling has been stable for years.

How much white wine is there at the Moselle?
Also at the Moselle, the white wine has an enormous importance. About 90% of the cultivated areas on the Moselle are planted with white wine grape varieties. This corresponds to approximately 800 ha. Following the wine harvest in 2017, these vineyards produced around 602,000 hl of white wine at the Moselle, which are sold both in Germany and exported all over the world.

Which grape varieties are typical for the Moselle?
When we talk about white wine at the Moselle, the word "Riesling" falls at the latest in the second sentence. This grape variety is probably the most typical as well as the best known for the Mosel wine region. In second place is the Müller-Thurgau, which is also called Rivaner. The portfolio of white grape varieties is rounded off by Kerner, Pinot Blanc and Elbling. Even white wines such as Chardonnay or Pinot Gris, for which the Moselle is not quite so well known, are becoming more popular.

What role does Riesling play on the Moselle?
So much in advance: a very big role. As indicated in the previous section, the Riesling is arguably the most important white grape variety for the winegrowing region of Moselle. At least when you look at how much Riesling is grown on the Moselle, this is absolutely clear. Around 5,000 ha of the approx. 8,800 ha total vineyard area along the Moselle are planted with Riesling. This is no coincidence, because the Riesling finds optimal ripening conditions on the Moselle and is the most sought after white wine in our region.

What are the tastes of white wine?
From dry to sweet, everything is in the white wine. Find out more about the individual flavors here: dry, semi-dry, fine-dry & sweet. With reference to the white wines on the Moselle, one can say that the wines have a very fruity character and especially the lovely Rieslings have always been in great demand. Meanwhile, the leaf seems to turn a little bit and slightly more complex, dry white wines are becoming increasingly popular.

How does the white wine in our vineyard stand out?
The keyword fruity meets it very well. It is important to us that our white wines make the special character of the Mosel tastable. A great fruit, a subtle acidity and fine minerality and texture that reflects the terroir of our vineyards. In addition, every white grape variety brings with it other interesting properties that make the white wine in our vineyard as well as on the Moselle generally so exciting.

Sources:
https://www.deutscheweine.de/wissen/rebsorten/weisse-rebsorten/mueller-thurgau/
2018 / 2019 - Deutscher Wein Statistik
https://www.germanwines.de/tourism/wine-growing-regions/mosel/