If everybody in the world
were as passionate about
wine as we are,
then there would
be no more war.
Riesling is the queen
of white grapes.
Combined with the
Moselle's one-of-a-kind
terroir, here they can be
molded into their most
elegant form.
The Moselle is not just
known for its dry wines,
but also for
high-quality sweet wines.
In accordance with
the German Wine Act,
there are different
ratings for
wine according to
the Oechsle scale.
At the time of picking,
the ratio of sugar to
water in the grape
must be measured.
These wines are called,
in order of increasing
Oechsle grades, Kabinett,
Spatlese, Auslese,
Beerenauslese,
Trockenbeerenauslese, and
the special category
of ice wine.
However, these categories
give no indication of
quality.
They are just used to
define styles of wine.
I'm going to meet Ernie
Loosen, one of the best
and best known
winemakers in the world.
He and his wine represent
the Moselle region like
nothing else.
Shortly after taking
over the estate in 1987,
he decided to produce
only high-quality sweet
wines in accordance with
the German Wine Act.
His dry wines, however,
are defined by their
growing conditions, where
the location and soil can
be tasted in the wine.
You've brought along
great weather!
Of course!
What did you expect?
We put the moldy grapes
into the red bucket,
they are still good.
They are not
that shriveled,
they have botrytis.
Botrytis is a good
kind of fungus and
the grapes only shrivel
in nice dry weather.
If they get wet they
don't really shrivel
like they should.
Despite that, we can
still collect them.
The healthy grapes are
collected in the black
bucket because we do not
want botrytis in the dry
wine.
We cut off the bunches,
one after the other and
then we separate
the grapes.
It is, of course,
a slow process, but
this year it
is important.
Very sweet,
crisp sourness and
the skin,
which is quite thick,
gives it some
extra intensity.
The picking is when we
can really influence
the quality of the wine.
You have to be very
selective with
the harvest and
be clear about the kind
of wine you want to make.
I always say that a great
wine is created in
the head.
I don't want to produce
big, fat, opulent wines.
I want to produce elegant
and highly complex wines.
I have a private cellar
with 12-15,000 bottles
and they are all
great wines,
which have both elegance
and complexity.
Those two buckets
are full,
we can empty them out.
Let's take a look at
the yield, two-thirds
botrytis grapes,
one-third healthy grapes.
That's just how things
are with this kind of
weather.
I think it's time to go
home and drink a bottle.
Drink a bottle?
Thank the Lord!
It's already 10 o'clock.
Now we're off the Ernie's
winery, and for
a drive around
the wine terraces.
As I know how winemakers
like to drive,
I will be be sure to
wear my seatbelt.
Pretty place!
It's a very beautiful and
impressive house,
how old is it?
It was built
around 1898/1900.
My great grandfather
bought it in the 1920s.
He had five or
six daughters and
he bought each of
them a winery.
I see lots of beautiful,
old bottles here.
It's what inspires me,
drinking great
wines of the world.
There's nothing better
than to sit here with 17
or 18 people and to share
one of these bottles.
We taste them blind and
everybody has to guess.
It's a wonderful game,
and
you push yourself much
harder to understand
the wine.
Looking at all of these
bottles is making me
thirsty.
Shall we open one up?
Then let's go upstairs!
You can go up first.
Come, come.
This is exactly how I
imagine a winery on
the Moselle,
with its rich history and
tradition.
These are our three
terroirs, from Berncastel
to Zeltingen it is
all blue slate.
>From Urzig all the way to
Erden, we have red slate,
like where we just were.
Then in Urzig, itself,
we have this volcanic
conglomerate.
What, exactly,
are we drinking?
We are drinking a 2011
Urziger Auslese dry
Riesling.
It's a Reserve.
It's called that because
of an old family
tradition, we left it in
the barrel for 24 months
without separating
it from the yeast.
I think with dry
wines we have to
relearn a few things,
as a lot of knowledge was
lost following the war.
Like how to produce great
dry wines that keep as
well as our big, fruity
Spatlese and Auslese.
I am undertaking a few
experiments like this.
My projects always
need a lot of time,
I have all sorts
of them on the go.
Ernie's wines are a lot
like him, deep yet
lively and vibrant.
He's someone who has
thought a lot about what
his wines should
become and
how to achieve
these goals.
As you can tell,
it's an extraordinarily
elegant wine.
It's very slight,
very precise.
A crisp sourness for
a 2011,
which was rather warm.
This sourness
is lengthened,
this is something we've
only just learnt,
it becomes more
crystalline,
more focused through
this lengthened process.
The micro-oxidation in
the barrel channels this
sourness, makes
it more precise.
I've rediscovered
a tradition, which I
would like to master over
the next 10-20 years.
Is a longer process in
the barrel better, or
is shorter better?
It needs to keep
motivating you,
this passion.
Plus, of course,
the joy of drinking!
Otherwise none of this
would make sense!
Only when I've
drunk a lot and
experienced a lot, drunk
lots of great wines,
then I'll be a little
bit closer to my goal.
I'm now off to meet
Katharina Prum,
of the J J Prum estate.
At Wehlener Sonnenuhr she
will show me how they
work the terraces and
tell me about single
stock vine-training
of Riesling.
A very good
morning to you!
I've brought great
weather along with me.
As long as it's
dry I'm happy!
Very nice!
Let's take a look around!
It's the wrong time of
year, but we'd like to
show you traditional
Moselle pruning,
vine-training on
a single stock.
We don't do it at this
time of year because they
still have their leaves.
There are still
nutrients in the leaves,
which migrate back into
the stem before they
fall off.
These nutrients will
benefit the plant
again next year.
Good, now let's show
you how we prune them.
Let's take a look
at this one here.
Out of all of these
spurs grow new shoots.
And if you don't cut them
off, you'll get a very
high yield but the
quality will be lower.
That's why we have to cut
them back every year.
I'll start by cutting off
the two-year old wood,
Which leaves the plant
with two remaining vines.
Now to make sure
it stands up we'll
tie it at the bottom,
wrap it around two or
three times and
that's it.
The next step
is to bend it.
God!
If there's no wine next
year, you know why!
Like this,
cracking is okay.
Stick it behind here and
tie it up.
Okay.
This must take forever,
you have so many vines.
How long does it take?
We have six or
seven thousand vines.
It takes about
300 man hours.
Crazy!
Since you've worked so
hard,
you've earned a reward.
It's a 2011 Wehlener
Sonnenuhr Kabinett.
Cheers!
What is it that makes the
ground in the Moselle so
special?
Or here,
in Wehlener Sonnenuhr?
Let's go for a walk.
There's a place
where i can show you
the structure
of the ground.
So this is
the slate here.
It's made up of lots of
layers, like puff pastry.
Let me show you,
these are the individual
layers.
You can see the layering
of various deposits from
three to four hundred
thousand years ago.
This all used to be
under the ocean.
It's rock, but
it's very porous and
easy to pull apart.
The roots of the vines
can reach deep between
the layers.
You can see small roots
peeking out everywhere.
They find the cracks
in the rock and
go very deep.
You have to imagine that
the slopes here are all
like this, all of the
vines are rooted in it.
And what affect does the
ground have on the wine?
You can taste the type
of earth in the wine.
Here we have gray
slate in the ground,
in Urzig they have
volcanic rocks.
The wine grown
in Wurzgarten
is a bit spicier,
for example.
That's what the Riesling
grape can express
most eloquently.
It is very sensitive
to ground conditions,
small differences in
steepness or structure of
the earth will be
expressed in the wine,
along with the weather
conditions.
That's why it tastes
different each year.
Every bottle of wine
has a story and
each year it offers
something different.
Working with nature
is simply wonderful.
We've moved on down
the road to Zeltingen.
Zeltingen is a sleepy
little village.
There aren't many
people on the streets.
There's one winery
after the other.
And when it's not
a winery it's
a guest house.
There is supposed to be
great regional food here.
I'm going to walk
around the lanes and
see what I come across.
Hi.
Hello, good day!
Did you shoot
them yourself?
Nope.
They were shot by
local hunters.
I'm going to carry them
into the kitchen and
I'll sort them out there.
Do you need a hand?
If you've got nothing
else to do, sure!
Crazy.
So how do you know if
they are good quality?
We don't take animals
from a driven hunt.
That way we know
the meat is good.
What is a driven hunt?
It's when the animals are
driven through the woods
up until a certain point
when they are shot and
killed.
The main negative effect
of that is the production
of stress hormones, which
trigger certain effects
in the muscles that are
not good for the meat.
How come people still
do that these days?
Is it a sport?
It's a method of
controlling the game
population.
We would rather be the
ones enjoying our grapes,
not them.
Are you a butcher?
What's your job here?
Are you a chef?
Yes, I'm an experienced
chef, but
I'm also the host
here in the hotel.
What is the typical
regional cuisine?
The regional cuisine is
Moselle is very simple,
they never had
much money.
There are certain
staples, such as mashed
potato mixed
with sauerkraut,
which we call Grawes.
We usually eat it with
bacon and fried onions.
With a sip of wine
to accompany it,
it is magnificent.
Basically, what happens
is that the food and
wine have a great
battle in the mouth,
they crash together.
So, you have wine with
its sourness, followed
by an incredible,
lingering aftertaste.
Markus said I should
visit vintner
Markus Molitor as well.
Let's go then.
Oh nice.
What do you think
about the wines of
Markus Molitor?
You'll taste that the
wines have been fermented
naturally, it's just
something special.
What's it like to
know the winemakers
personally, when
living here?
It's a great feeling to
know that there are so
many top class winemakers
just around the corner.
Hello.
Nice to see you again.
What does the Moselle
Valley mean to you?
We have the highest
density of Grand Cru
vineyards here
in this region.
For me, as a vintner,
it is exciting to use
this potential and
extract it out of
the grapes to bottle it.
Can I have a look
around the mansion?
Sure.
One hundred years ago
Riesling from this area
was the most expensive
wine on earth.
I'm trying to bring
Moselle Riesling back to
that level.
The diversity of
our vineyards and
of the different Riesling
grapes is truly unique.
Thanks for
taking the time.
Thanks for coming.
Have a great evening.
Enjoy the rest
of your stay.
Most buildings where
winemaking takes place
are modern nowadays.
Here at Markus Molitor's
place I feel like
I've been taken back
to another time.
This feeling might
also help the wine to
flourish.
In the next episode I
will accompany a hunt to
eat game at the festive
dinner afterwards.
