Mosel & Rhine Viticulture

Western Europe produces 60 percent of the world's wines. Most of the European vineyards are small parcels and found on steep slopes, especially in the Central Uplands of Germany. The Rhine and Mosel rivers are the most famous. Europeans have always drunk lots of wine -- historically, because wine and beer were safer to drink than water! In France during the mid-1960s, the average person drank 31 gallons per year; by 2002, it had dropped to 16 gallons.

What is growing on the steep hillside behind the village? Can you find the cemetery?
Why are grapes grown on steep slopes? Where is the north-facing slope?

Answers:
* world-famous German Mosel white wines
* The steep, V-shaped valleys, resulting from river erosion in the Central Uplands, provide good drainage and heat retention to reduce frost damage in the spring and fall. Grapes are usually grown on south-facing slopes.
* The north-facing slope is across the river where the land is covered with forests (at the top of the photo).

The grape harvest requires lots of seasonal workers. Poor workers from many countries have been used: immediately after WWII, Italians were used, later Portuguese and Turks; and in the 1990s after the "fall" of the Iron Curtain, Eastern Europeans, particularly Poles.

In this Rhine River photo, the Polish workers are taking a lunch break: the owner, bending over a pot, is handing out soup in porcelain dishes with metal utensils and bread buns. Better eating than at MacDonald's!

Created by Ingolf Vogeler on 5 May 1996; last revised on 18 November 2004.