Tales from the Mosel
May 6-17, 2026. We began our latest overseas adventure in Paris where one can see beer ordered occasionally at lunch but wine is more commonly on the tables. There is no doubt that France is wine country. Even the stained-glass windows in the cathedral at Reims depict happy workers making wine.
But we were about to embark on a river that took the wine culture to a new level for us. The river is the Mosel between Trier and Koblenz, Germany, where wine and wine culture dominates over beer. To be here is to understand why the English word “wine” derives from the German “wein” and not the Romance languages (vinum, le vin, il vino, etc.). Once we joined the Rhein river and began sailing east, the mood became increasingly beer oriented, so that by the time we arrived in Prague, it was clear that we were solidly in the land of hops. Pilsner was invented in Czechia (in the town of Pilsen, as a matter of fact). I do admit that after a hot day of sightseeing a cold glass of the local Staropramen does a person good.
But since this is a WINE blog, we’ll restrict this post to stories from the heart of German wine country – the Mosel. Nothing against the Rheingau, the Pfalz, or Franken, but Mosel is where it’s at. Our ship traveled upstream from Trier for 145 miles of river bends and innumerable locks. There are miles of vineyards virtually all planted on the south-east river banks for best sun exposure and planted on inclines between 60 to 70 degrees, making these vineyards among the steepest in the world. They feel at times as if they will slide into the river. The curves of the Mosel and the vast terraces of vines can create an amphitheater effect like this view around Piesport.
Vines around Piesport
Schloss Lieser and Niederberg-Helden Vineyard
Mosel wine is mostly from one grape – Riesling. Yes, I had a very nice Silvaner served in a bocksbeutel and some nice Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir). But you’d be advised to stick to the Riesling for the best expression of the vines.
The Wine Witch.
Let’s begin with a story about a young woman we’ll call Katrina. Her real name is lost to myth and legend because, you see, Katrina is the wine witch.
It’s hard to believe that the picture postcard town of Winningen, with its medieval half-timbered houses and shops fronting a lazy bend in the lower Mosel River, with roughly twenty wineries crowded into 1,500 square feet, could be the site of such vicious resentments of power and money as to result in witch trials. But between 1640 and 1660, over 20 people were tried and executed here for the crime of witchcraft. These were mostly women* and some guilty only of being adept at making potions and poultices for healing the sick.
It came to pass that Katrina was imprisoned on charges of witchcraft for she was one of those women who knew about plants and herbs and the making of wine. It also happened that during her imprisonment, the local nobleman, the Count of Sponheim, became deathly ill. None of the doctors could heal him. Despairing for his life, he learned of Katrina and her gifts and called her into his service. After examining the nobleman, Katrina concocted a wine laced with healthful plants and in short order saved his life. The Count pardoned Katrina as a reward, and she became renowned as “the Wine Witch” (Weinhex).
This is the story our guide, Walter, told us as we walked the streets of Winningen at dusk. The little town has embraced the Wine Witch as its symbol in much the same way that Salem, Massachusetts embraces its witch trials. She appears on her broom stenciled on the sides of houses, on winery glassware, and in a statue in the town square (The Witches' Fountain or Weinhexbrunnen).
Weinhexbrunnen
Winningen is surrounded by steep vineyards of Reisling grapes. In older days, most homes in town had dug-out basements to store wines in a cool place. But the basements were damp and putrid until someone got the idea to plant his vines in the basement as well. Vines soaked up the dampness and made the basements drier. And the vines continued to grow unchecked, as vines do, up through the ceiling, into the street outside, up the sides of houses and across the streets. The presence of old living grape vines is everywhere.
Street in Winningen#
It is fitting, therefore, that Winningen hosts the oldest wine annual festival in Germany presided over each year – not by a “Miss Winningen” or a “Miss Mosel Wine,” but by a lovely young lady newly crowned as the “Winehex.”
Our stroll in the town of Winnigen took us into the nighttime when the rain began to fall after days of warning. Added to that, there are few street lights in the town to light the uneven cobbled streets. I cannot tell you the name of the winery where we stopped; I was too busy trying to stay dry and not fall. The place was somewhere between the Evangelical Church and the downhill slope to the river. I can’t identify any winery as intimate as ours with its grape vines growing up through the cellar ceiling.
Our group made the most of the evening, singing German drinking songs with Michael Fischer on his accordion and drinking some good wine. I noted that the wine was young and fresh with a medium slate minerality. Off-dry as is typical of the Mosel wines.
A Wine Tasting.
One of the most important wine towns on the Mosel is Bernkastel-Cues in the central part of the valley. While Bernkastel has its share of half-timbered houses and quaint squares, it may be most notable for the black slate vineyard called “the Doctor” that rises precipitously behind the town.
Bernkastle with the Doctor
This vineyard once produced the most expensive wines in Germany notable for the distinct slate (gravel) terroir.
We attended a wine tasting in the winery (weingut) of Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler. The winey has been in operation for 15 generations and consists of several hundred individual vineyards stretching from Brauneberger Juffer (Sonnenur) in the south to Erdener Treppchen further north. To maintain this dispersed acreage, the winery uses drones to treat the vines and track progress towards harvest.
The tasting room (Studierkeller) is in the cellar of the production building next to their 1,000 liter barrels. Each barrel sports a candle for safety not the ambience because candles can warn of drops in oxygen levels when fermenting grapes may generate unsafe CO2 levels.
Tasting at Dr. Pauly Bergweiler
Before talking about specific wines, a little education in German wine classification is in order. The modern German system – called the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingünter or VDP - assumes that wine is dry (trocken) unless it carries one of the traditional German terms for ripeness such as Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, etc. Those terms now refer to the wine’s sweetness.^
Our group sat down to a tasting of the following wines:
2023 Grauburgunder Trocken. This wine had a touch of green apple in the front and raspberry in the back palate. It was an uncomplicated pleasant wine atypically made from the Pinot Grigio grape.
2016 Ürziger Goldwingert Riesling Trocken – Grosses Gewächs. Labeling tells you this is a dry wine (trocken) from a great growth (“Grosses Gewächs”). So-called “GG” wines indicate they are a top-of-the-line German wine from a Grosse Lage (“Grand Cru”) vineyard. Very old-growth vines. A wonderful wine with some slate minerality and hints of complexity behind a lot of acidity. Typical Mosel.
2023 Mosel River Riesling Feinherb. “Feinherb” is a fairly new unregulated term in German wine labeling. It describes a wine that is not totally dry and is closest to the halbtrocken (off-dry) classification, with sometimes a higher level of sweetness. Indeed, this wine has more residual sugar but is controlled. Peach and floral notes.
2020 Bernkasteler alte Badstube am Doctorberg Riesling Auslese. This wine is from the famed Doctor vineyard behind Bernkastel and is made with a moderate sweetness (“Auslese”). Very smooth bordering on an aperitif. Would be good with a dinner of game or even Chinese food. With its sugar reserves, this wine could age for 50 years or more.
Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler is also available in the United States at Total Wine and More under the name “Dr. Heidmanns-Bergweiler.”
Closing.
Along our trip we encountered new things, like a wine dispensing machine.
And we encountered very old things like the Great Heidelberg Tun.
This cruise was payback of a sort for Kim who is a decided WHITE wine drinker. Our past two cruises had been to Bordeaux and the Rhone Valley in France, both known mostly for their deep and complex red wines. I think we both came away from this cruise with a much better appreciation for a well-made Riesling, smooth and complex in its own right. It's a style Virginia wineries could emulate but I fear have not accomplished yet.
That’s it for our report from the Mosel River. What a civilized way to taste culture! We hope to get back to our familiar haunts in Virginia next month.
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*Some historical details are taken from Karin Helmstaedt, “Remembering my ancestor who was burned as a witch,” Deutsche Welle, 04/30/2023 accessed at https://www.dw.com/en/a-witch-in-the-family/a-65447802 on May 21, 2026. 19 people were executed and two died in prison. In the 1920’s, the town erected a memorial to the witch trial victims on Witch’s Hill (Hexenhügel) where many were tortured and executed.
#Photograph of Winningen street with overhanging vines taken from https://en.visitmosel.de/cities-culture/poi/historischer-ortskern-winningen accessed May 21, 2026.
^ This summary of German wine classification is based on the description in Karen MacNeil, The Wine Bible, 3rd Ed 2022, p. 395.
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