who actually became a wine grower in the Mosel area out of his passion for Riesling, working for Weingut Selbach-Oster. He will guide us through the process and has found us the perfect vineyard plot to get our hands dirty.
The plot (marked with a green line) is located in the first class Mosel vineyard Zeltinger Sonnenuhr, a steep south to south-west facing slope with typical slatey soil. The site is currently under vinyard reorganisation (Flurbereinigung), which involves a lot of replantation. Some parts though are not being replanted, and one of these has been available for us to start our project. The vines are old, ungrafted Riesling vines, probably dating back to pre WW2 times. Here's a closer look from another angle.
This is how the site looked as we started working. The shoots from last year have to be cut away, down to just one, which we then bing to the pole in a vertico trelling system. It's not the traditional system for the Mosel, but will reduce our work load, and hopefully will not compromise the quality. The ground is covered with some unwanted growth which we will ripp out by hand.
The sign of a former owner of the plot. The site has been worked most recently by Weingut Markus Molitor. I'd love to know what the grapes were like...
Here's to the team!