The river Mosel and its tributaries are home to some of the Germany’s best-known wines--almost entirely Riesling and packaged in tall green bottles. While the dominant environment here is steep slate slopes, even small variations in mineral content of the slate, subsoil, exposure, and other factors can make for quite dramatic and systematic variations in the resulting wines. Take, for instance, the top vineyards of neighboring Erden, Urzig, Zeltigen, and Wehlen, to the eye each just another towering wall of slate. Erden Rieslings are nearly always dominated by aromas and flavors of citrus, particularly lemon and tangerine. Rieslings from Urzig evince red berries--usually strawberry. And those from the top sites in Zeltingen and Wehlen are nearly always redolent of apple, vanilla, and nut oils.

Besides the Upper and Middle Mosel areas--from Koblenz upstream to Trier--this large official growing region takes in the tributaries of Saar and Ruwer, which flow into the Mosel near Trier. Rieslings from the Ruwer and Saar have reputations for being harvested even later than on the Middle Mosel and for being even more of a challenge to ripen.