By Manos Angelakis
 

For a wine lover, there is nothing more exciting than a visit to a wine-producing area seeing and tasting, first hand, how high quality wines are created.

Since Roman times, the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer has been one of the most important German wine regions. There are a little less than 10,000 hectares under grapevine, of which 56% are Riesling and the balance mostly Müller-Thurgau; with a small amount of acreage devoted to Elbling and Kerner grapes (Deutschen Weininstituts 2003). The region stretches from the Luxemburg border to Koblenz, where the Mosel River flows into the Rhine. It is subdivided into four Bereiche (sub regions) of which Bernkastle has the best vineyards planted, often precariously, with Riesling vines on the steep slopes of slatey hills along the banks of the Mosel River.

Found here are a number of the world’s most famous vineyards, the Berncasteler Doctor, the Bernkasteler Badstube and the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Zeltinger Sonnenuhr. This is the Riesling wine region par excellence.

Wines from Berncasteler Doctor are in every important wine list, both in Germany and abroad. The name “Doctor”, as legend would have it, originated in the fourteenth century when the ailing Elector of Trier, Archbishop Bohemund II, revived miraculously after drinking a glass of wine from the vineyard on his sick bed. It is known that the site was owned by Count von der Leyen until 1760, and in 1794, under French rule, the vineyard was declared community property. During most of the 19^th century, the Doctor was leased to one family and it eventually became the property of Dr. Hugo Thanisch and his wife Katharina, whose descendants still own a large tract of the land. In 1900, the Mayor of Bernkastle sold his parcel of the Doctor to the Deinhard Company for 100 gold marks per vine - equal to 100 gold marks per square meter, as at the time they planted only one vine per square meter - the largest amount ever paid for a vineyard in Germany.

The Doctor is still the highest priced piece of real estate in the world of premium vineyards.

The soil of the vineyard is decomposed slate and/or kaolin-slate. Because of the steepness of the terrain, work is carried out by hand. The vineyard is planted exclusively with Riesling vines, about 45% of which are ungrafted, on their own rootstock. Many of the mature, ungrafted vines belong to the Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch - Erben Thanisch winery, now run by Sophia Thanisch-Spier, the great-granddaughter of Hugo and Katharina. This branch of the Thanisch family owns half of the Thanisch Doctor parcel. Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch – Erben Müller-Burggraef, owns the other half and is managed by Barbara Rundquist-Müller. In 1988, the property was divided in two equal parts after a disagreement amongst the family members on how the business should be managed. The harvest usually starts towards the end of October, and continues to the end of December, or even early January depending on the grape ripeness required to achieve a particular Prädikate (attribute) i.e. sweetness at harvest, as indicated on the label – late December or January is when winter-frozen grapes for ice-wine are harvested. Pickers make several passes through the vineyard, as the grapes ripen. The grapes are hand-selected at the site, and then transferred for pressing and vinification. The grapes are crushed immediately on arrival at the estates, in order to retain the freshness and aroma so characteristic of Mosel’s Rieslings. Three major estates with holdings at the Doctor have magnificent cellars hewn out of the rock under the vineyard.

Many of the wines produced at the Doctor are award winning, and are sold at annual auction. The 2002 vintage was not a particularly impressive one, certainly not as good as the 2001, which produced very good and well-balanced Kabinett, Spätlese, and Auslese wines. The 2003 produced spicy, aromatic wines with compact fruit and a rather elevated acidity. Barrel samples and first bottling samples of the 2004 vintage we tasted in August 2005 show wines better than 2003 with subtle to intense aromas (depending on the winemaker) and peach, pear, orange and grapefruit on the nose. The noble wines are elegant, with tropical fruit, lemon and ripe peach and/or plums on the palate, medium minerality and a long honeyed finish.

Two other major vineyards in the area are the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Zeltinger Sonnenuhr, located on a great natural amphitheater of vineyards formed by a bend on the River Mosel.

The vineyards are divided into parcels that are owned by a number of wineries, most belonging to descendants of Herhardus Hermann Prüm (1169-1229), the original owner. The fragmentation is mainly due to the fact that Sebastian Alois Prüm divided the original vineyards amongst his seven children. The soil is mostly stony blue slate mixed with some red slate. Like the Doctor, both Sonnenuhr vineyards are located on a very steep slope. In this vineyards, late harvesting is the rule, to achieve the best and ripest fruit possible. The name Sonnenuhr – Sundial – comes from the very large sundials erected on the Wehlen and Zeltinger sites by Jodocus Prüm in 1842, so that the vineyard workers would know the time of the day.

In the great years, the Sonnenuhr wines have an opulence prized by wine drinkers worldwide. 2003 was a “hot” year; the dry wines were a bit unbalanced without considerable acidity but the noble sweet wines showed great aging potential. 2004 should be a great year according to what we sampled in August 2005, when we tasted the results of the efforts of a number of winemakers with parcels in Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Zeltinger Sonnenuhr.

Weingut S. A. Prüm’s (www.sapruem.com) owner and winemaker Raimund Prüm welcomed us at his estate in Wehlen, on the banks of the Mosel, where ancient cellars contain a treasure of wonderful wines. His 2004 dry wines were very pale straw in color, aromatic, delicate, with a remarkable citrus and green apple expression. The noble wines were exceptionally good with yellow tropical fruit, stewed prunes and a sour-orange base on the nose, apricots, honey, and nectarines on the palate. The Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA) had a texture almost like a very liquid honey. They all had a very long, slightly spicy, intriguing finish.

Another excellent winery is Weingut Selbach-Oster (www.selbach-oster.de) located in the town of Zeltinger. With holdings in Bernkasteler Badstube, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Zeltinger Sonnenuhr and Zeltinger Himmelreich (another very good vineyard), Selbach-Oster creates elegant, crisp, low-alcohol, full-flavored wines. All the wines we tasted were very aromatic with a juicy minerality that reflected gray-blue and blue slate soil, where ungrafted vines grow. Amongst the most interesting was a sample of the 2004 Zeltinger Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett halbtrocken i.e. demi-sec.

There are many other wineries in the area creating excellent wines, and the best way to find them would be a late summer journey staying in one of the wine-specializing hotels and/or guesthouses. By the end of the summer, all the bottling for the previous season’s wines has been finished and work on the vineyards has slowed down a little, as the winemakers prepare for harvest. We spent two nights near Bernkastle at Weinromantikhotel Richtershof, a superior four-star hotel in Mülheim an der Mosel, with an excellent restaurant “Culinarium R” on premises(www.weinromantikhotel.com). The hotel is located in the middle of a verdant park and garden. Amongst the facilities is an outstanding “Vinothek” featuring some of the best area vintages in a 300-year old wine cellar, a beauty-atelier with a Roman-style spa, and a fitness room.

Another possibility would be staying at the Prüm Guesthouse, adjacent to the S. A. Prüm winery and run by Frau Erika Prüm, Raimund Prüm’s wife. It is a very small property, only seven rooms; they are all spacious and well appointed. This would be an excellent solution enabling you to participate in the special Events of the Prüm winery or other vintners in the area.

Many tourists rent bicycles to travel around. There are excellent bicycle-paths along the Mosel and between towns, though getting to the best vineyards might be a problem with that mode of transportation, as the vineyards are situated on steep hill slopes.

À votre santé.

Editor’s note: Doctor and Berncastel with a “c” is an older spelling of the names, traditionally used when referring to the vineyards. The modern names would be spelled with a “k”.