The Mosel
The Mosel follows a twisty line, surrounded by steep slatey
walls of vineyard, from Trier to its destination at Koblenz where it joins the
Rhine. The stunning scenery never fails to impress, but its wines are not taken
seriously any more by todays average wine drinkers. Yet, the finest villages of
the middle Mosel area deserve the same adoration as places like Mersault and
Puligny-Montrachet, for they can produce wines no less serious and praiseworthy.
The greatest names are Piesport, Brauneberg, Bernkastel, Wehlen, Ürzig, and
Erden, though some lesser known ones should not be dismissed either. One problem
is that these villages usually have vineyards of vastly diverging quality within
their district, with no indication for the consumer of their relative merits.
Piesporter Michelsberg versus Piesporter Goldtröpfchen is the most notorious
example. Another problem is the fact the different producers, often with very
similar names, make wines of widely differing quality even from the same sites.
But take a top producer, say Joh. Jos. Prüm, and great vineyard, like the
incomparable Wehlener Sonnenuhr, and a good vintage, and the combination results
in a wine of magical elegance and subtlety, the epitome of finesse, and yet with
the concentration and structure to age for decades into some of the most complex
wines known to man. The Mosel is the leading region for fine white wines that do
not follow today's fashion for the big and chunky. To quote Hugh Johnson (The
World Atlas of Wine):
"The greatest of them, long-lived, pale gold, piquant, profound yet
frivolous ... are wines that beg to be compared with music and poetry."