The Rhine Bends and Greatness Begins There is a moment when you drive the Riesling Route west from Wiesbaden and the Rhine suddenly opens up beneath you, wide and silver-grey, the slopes dropping sharply to the water’s edge. Vines cling to those terraces in long, disciplined rows. Castles break the treeline. And somewhere in the…
There is a moment, driving south along the Deutsche Weinstrasse in September, when you understand exactly why the Romans settled here. The Haardt mountains sit at your back, blocking Atlantic rain; the Rhine plain stretches golden ahead of you; and vines press right to the roadside, close enough to brush the car window. The Pfalz…
There is a stretch of the Rhine between Bingen and Bonn where the river narrows, the hills close in, and vines grip the rock at angles that would give most viticulturalists pause. This is the Mittelrhein, one of Germany’s smallest wine regions, one of its most visually dramatic, and arguably its most underrated. The name…
There is a particular satisfaction in watching a wine region reinvent itself without losing its identity. The Rheinhessen wine region has done exactly that over the past two decades, evolving from a producer best known for semi-sweet bulk wines into one of Germany’s most compelling destinations for serious wine lovers. With 27,657 hectares of vineyards…
There are wine regions you visit for the scenery, and there are wine regions you visit for what’s in the glass. The Mosel wine region is one of the rare places where both reasons carry equal weight. The river carves a series of tight, looping bends through the Rhineland-Palatinate, and on nearly every outer bend,…
Why the Ahr Deserves More Attention Than It Gets Ask a seasoned wine enthusiast to name Germany’s best red wine region, and the Ahr wine region will almost certainly come up. Ask a casual wine drinker, and you will likely draw a blank. That gap between recognition and reputation is precisely what makes the Ahr…