The Mosel River

Today, March 28, 2008 we left the Rhine River onboard Amadeus Waterway's m/s Amadagio and headed up the Mosel River toward the city of Trier. You'll often see the river spelled as Moselle - this is the English and the French version of the Mosel River, which is the German spelling. The Mosel begins its flow in the Vosges Mountains of France and flows towards the northeast through Metz until it becomes the border between Luxembourg and Germany. In Trier, the river opens out into a broad plain, making Trier an ideal site for a Roman City. It is here that the Mosel is joined by two smaller rivers, the Saar and Rewer, before it bgegins its serpentine flow to the Rhine River in Koblenz. The entire length of the river is 341 miles, and it is the German portion which is most scenic. It is here where you find steep vineyards terraced up the mountainsides, with quaint and charming villages in between. There are 70 villages between Trier and Koblenz, most dedicated to the production of wine and to the tourism industry. You'll find many quaint guest houses in each village, campgrounds, bicycle paths and hiking trails.

Navigation along the river began in 1965 with the construction of the locks. There are nine locks between Koblenz and Trier allowing ships such as the m/s Amadagio to from the Rhine at an even pace. The locks are quite narrow and when the ship is in the lock, there is only about a 1 foot clearance on each side of the ship - see photos below.

Mosel Wine

Vines were first planted here by the Romans in the 4th century. It seems almost impossible to grow wine on these steep slopes but the conditions here are actually ideal for the growing of Riesling wine grapes. The most important slopes are those that are south-facing, as they receive the most sunlight which is very important for these grapes at such a northerly latitude. Of all the world's major wine growing areas, Germany is the northernmost. Grapes are generally planted only on slopes and not on top of the plateau because it is too cold there. However, there are many microclimates in the river valley. Grapes are affected by many different influences such as the amount of slate in the soil, the angle of the slopes and the direction of the slopes. Grapes are usually planted vertically rather than horizontally allowing for maximum sun exposure and preventing grapes from falling into shadows. The Mosel Valley is famous for its old sun dials as vintners in the past were obsessed by the time and amount of sunlight that was getting to the grapes. All in all there are 2,600 individual vineyard sites in the Mosel Valley!