The Moselle Cycle Route. Mike Wells

Чтение книги онлайн.

      A glass of local Riesling at Piesport (Stage 11)

      The grape most suited to these conditions is the Riesling, which is planted on all the most favourable slopes and produces all the finest wines. At its best, Mosel Riesling can compete with the great wines of the world. Despite having a lower alcohol content, the natural balance between dry slatey acidity and fruitiness gives a flavour that can compete with other fuller-bodied wines. But the price of quality is limited quantity. Riesling is a low-yielding grape compared to Müller-Thurgau, a grape that is equally at home in the conditions but produces a lower-quality wine. Secondary slopes and flat land by the river are mostly planted with this grape. This has had an adverse effect upon worldwide perception of Mosel wine, and German wine in general. Nowhere is this more obvious than in Piesport. Here the great south-facing slope of Goldtröpfchen, which rises behind the village and is planted exclusively with Riesling, produces Piesporter, one of the region’s best wines. Opposite, on a flat bend in the river around Michelsberg, there are extensive vineyards of Müller-Thurgau, which produce large quantities of the much cheaper and far inferior Piesporter-Michelsberg. This wine is exported throughout the world and has unfortunately come to be seen by many as ‘typical’ German white wine.

      Historically, most wine production (mainly for German consumption) was dry white wine produced from Riesling and Silvaner grapes. In the 1960s, in order to satisfy a perceived demand for sweeter wines in export markets (particularly the UK and US), considerable acreage of Müller-Thurgau was planted at the expense of Silvaner. However, as the UK wine market developed, tastes became steadily drier and German (usually medium–sweet) wine’s share of UK sales has declined significantly. There has been some movement back towards producing drier wines and an alteration to the strict German wine classification rules in 2000 has encouraged this. Nowadays the acreage of Müller-Thurgau declines each year. An older local grape, Elbling, is also grown, although this is mostly used for non-varietal production of sekt (sparkling wine).

      German wine labels can only show varietals (Riesling for instance) if at least 85 per cent of grapes are from a single variety. If no varietal is shown, the wine is either a blend or even pure Müller-Thurgau. Labels also indicate increasing levels of wine quality, Tafelwein, Landwein, Qualitätswein, and Prädikatswein (roughly equivalent to the French designations Vin de Table, Vin de Pays, VDQS and Appellation Contrôlée). The best-quality wine (Prädikatswein) is further divided into six categories, which tell you little about the characteristics of the wine in the bottle but indicate increasing levels of ripeness of the grapes used. The first three of these (Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese) can be dry (trochen), medium (halbtrochen) or sweet (lieblich, although this is often not shown on the label) depending upon the production process followed in the winery: basically, a longer fermentation allows more sugar to turn to alcohol, giving a stronger, drier wine, but in practice things are more complicated. The other three descriptions (Beerenauslese, Eiswein and Trochenbeerenauslese) denote sweet dessert wines. Classification changes made in 2000 introduced two categories that are specific to dry wines intended mostly for the export market: ‘Classic’ is a dry wine made from traditional local grape varieties with an alcohol level of at least 11.5 per cent, and ‘Selection’, which is another name for a trochen Auslese.

      Winningen, home of Germany’s oldest wine festival (Stage 14)

      Weinorten (wine-producing villages) spread right along the gorge, from the French border to Koblenz, and extend short distances down the Saar and Ruwer valleys. Most villages have a number of vineyard slopes, some on more favourable ground than others, and individual growers have strips of vines in different vineyards. Each grower has their own regime of pruning, weeding and application of pesticides. As a result, when seen from a distance, every vineyard appears as a patchwork of plots. The most renowned ‘great first-class vineyards’, all on south-facing slopes, tend to be in the middle part of the gorge between Schweich and Zell and include Goldtröpfchen and Domherr in Piesport, Juffer and Sonnenuhr slopes in Brauneberg, Bernkasteler Doctor, Wehlener Sonnenuhr and the Würzgarten, Prälat and Treppchen vineyards between Ürzig and Erden. There is also one in the Saar Valley (Schwarzhofberg) and two in the Ruwer (Karthäuserhofberg and Grünhauser Abtsberg). Other famous vineyards, often with associated local legends include the Kröver Nacktarsch (bare bottom), Zeller Schwarze Katz (black cat) and Bullayer Brautrock (bridal gown). Most weinorte have an annual wine festival, the oldest being in Winningen near Koblenz.

      Not surprisingly, prices vary from reasonable to very expensive, although you will be surprised at how affordable much of the wine is. Perhaps the best way to sample the various wines is to try a small glass of Kabinett with a lunchtime snack and a Spätlese or Auslese with your evening meal (ask for trochen if you want dry!). To go the whole hog, you could finish with an after dinner glass of sweet dessert wine – ask for Trochenbeerenauslese. One way to compare a wide variety of wines at one time is to buy a €15 sampling ticket at the Vinothek, a co-operative wine merchant in the cellars of the Cusanus St Nikolaus monastery in Kues (Stage 11), where you can taste over 100 wines.

      Other parts of the Moselle valley also produce wine. Lorraine was once a major wine-producing region, but after the industry was wiped out by the 19th-century phylloxera epidemic, little replanting was carried out. Nowadays production is limited to a small area around Metz and a larger area around Toul (Côtes de Toul) that is best known for Vin Gris, a rosé wine made from a blend of Gamay, Pinot Noir and local white grape varieties. In Luxembourg wine is produced all along the Moselle, with Rivaner (a local name for Müller-Thurgau) being the dominant, although declining, grape. The best-known wine is Crémant de Luxembourg, a champagne-style sparkling wine.

      Vinothek cooperative wine cellars in St Niklolaus Monastery, Kues (Stage 11)

      Beer and other beverages

      Although the part of the country through which the Moselle flows is a wine-producing and -consuming region, Germany is predominantly a beer-drinking nation. France, by contrast, is a wine-drinking nation where consumption of beer is higher in northern and eastern regions, including Lorraine. In Germany, purity laws controlling the production and content of beer have limited the mass consolidation of brewing compared to other European countries, beer still being brewed in a large number of local breweries. Lager and pilsner are the most widely drunk forms, although weizenbier (wheat beer), found in both helles (pale) and dunkles (dark) varieties, is growing in popularity. Very refreshing and slightly sweet tasting, wheat beer is unfiltered and thus naturally cloudy. Glass sizes vary, but common sizes are kleines (small, 300ml) and grosses (large, half-litre). Weizenbier is traditionally served in half-litre vase-shaped glasses. Radler in Germany is shandy, a 50/50 mix of beer and carbonated lemonade. With a long history of German influence, Alsace and Lorraine are the main beer-producing regions of France, and a wide variety of beers are available. Blanche is wheat beer similar to German weizenbier, while blonde is a pale-coloured lager.

      All the usual soft drinks (including colas, lemonade, fruit juices and mineral waters) are widely available. Apple juice mixed 50/50 with carbonated СКАЧАТЬ