The Mosel for Wine Lovers - Estates, Wine Shops & Steep Slopes

Why the Mosel for wine lovers?

The Mosel produces the most elegant form of Riesling in the world, and it sits within easy reach of much of central Europe - three to five hours' drive from most of Germany, for example.

What makes the region unique is the landscape. These are the steepest vineyards in Europe - the Calmont near Bremm reaches gradients of up to 65 degrees, and every grape there is picked by hand. The slate stores the day's warmth and gives it back to the vines at night, while the cool climate makes for long ripening. The result is wines that carry more tension at eleven per cent alcohol than others do at fourteen.

For a holiday that means combining wine with walking, cycling and river boats rather than with driving. The Moselsteig and the Mosel cycle path are among the best routes in Germany, and both run straight past the estates. For the technical depth on sites, Prädikat levels and slate, see our Mosel profile.

Best time to travel for wine experiences

One important practical note: during the harvest some estates offer no tastings at all - Selbach-Oster, for instance, pauses until around the end of October. If you come in autumn, phone ahead rather than relying on the website.

Wine estates you can visit

The Mosel is a land of small growers: many of the best estates are family businesses with no visitor operation. Our selection concentrates on those where a visit works reliably.

Weingut Markus Molitor (Bernkastel-Wehlen)

The best stop for anyone travelling spontaneously: the Haus Klosterberg tasting room sits in the middle of the vineyards and is open daily from 10 to 17, with around 40 wines to taste and buy on the spot. Molitor farms over 20 steep sites and bottles more than 90 different wines per vintage - nowhere else can you compare sites and sweetness levels this directly. A guided tasting of at least eight wines costs around 20 euros and is waived above a larger purchase.

Info: Website↗ · Google Maps↗

Weingut van Volxem (Wiltingen on the Saar)

The region's most spectacular new building and its best visitor offering: a panorama lounge looking out over the Saar, reachable by lift, plus a step-free terrace - the most accessible estate on this list. From April it is open Wednesday to Sunday, and you can get a commented tasting at the counter without a reservation; the last chance is an hour before closing. For groups of six or more it is around 20 euros per person. A good 20 kilometres from Trier.

Info: Website↗ · Google Maps↗

Weingut Dr. Loosen (Bernkastel-Kues)

One of the internationally best-known estates on the Mosel, right on the bank at Bernkastel. Important to know: there are no cellar or vineyard tours here, only tastings - but with no minimum group size. The regular tasting covers five wines of your own choosing for around 20 euros, a fuller version seven selected wines for about 30 euros. Booking is compulsory and there are no fixed opening hours.

Info: Website↗ · Google Maps↗

Weingut Maximin Grünhaus (Mertesdorf, Ruwer valley)

For many the loveliest visit in the region: a manorial estate with three monopole sites - Abtsberg, Herrenberg and Bruderberg belong to this estate alone. Tastings are held in the historic press house looking out at exactly those slopes, around 25 euros per person, credited against a larger order. Booking requested; tours in German and English. Just ten kilometres from Trier - the ideal half-day trip out of the city.

Info: Website↗ · Google Maps↗

Weingut Clemens Busch (Pünderich)

The organic estate of the Mittelmosel and the best address for the subject of slate: Clemens Busch bottles his wines from the Pündericher Marienburg separately by blue, grey and red slate - so you taste the soil in direct comparison, which nowhere else is done as consistently. Biodynamic since 2005. Tastings by appointment in a half-timbered house of 1663, except on Sundays and public holidays.

Info: Website↗ · Google Maps↗

Weingut Heymann-Löwenstein (Winningen, Terrassenmosel)

The pioneer of the Terrassenmosel - Reinhard Löwenstein coined the term in the first place. The vineyards on sandy slate in sites such as Uhlen and Röttgen are extremely steep and terraced. The tasting room is open on Friday and Saturday afternoons; outside those times, and for five people or more, an appointment is needed. Of interest to anyone travelling the lower Mosel valley towards Koblenz.

Info: Website↗ · Google Maps↗

Weingut Selbach-Oster (Zeltingen-Rachtig)

A reliable, straightforward stop on the Mittelmosel: the tasting room is open from April to October, Monday to Saturday from 11 to 17, and on weekdays in winter. You taste and buy during opening hours or by appointment. Important: no tastings take place during the harvest, until around the end of October.

Info: Website↗ · Google Maps↗

Historic cellars in Trier

If you travel without a car, Trier holds the most visitor-friendly addresses in the region. The Stiftungsweingut Vereinigte Hospitien on the Krahnenufer has the oldest wine cellar in Germany; from April to October there is a one-hour cellar tour with tasting at 11 on Wednesdays, Fridays and selected Saturdays for 17.50 euros. The Bischöfliche Weingüter Trier offer a roughly two-hour cellar tour with sparkling wine and six top wines for around 25 euros, with a discount on wine bought the same day. Both are within walking distance in the city centre.

Info: Vereinigte Hospitien↗ · Bischöfliche Weingüter↗ · Google Maps↗

Two notes for Riesling pilgrims: the legendary Weingut Egon Müller at the Scharzhof offers no public visits - you get the wines through specialist merchants, and the estate itself can only be looked at from the outside. And Joh. Jos. Prüm in Wehlen, directly opposite the famous sundial, does receive guests, but exclusively after a prior email and on weekdays only - so not an option for a weekend.

Suggested routes

Route 1 - the Mittelmosel around Bernkastel: in the morning to the wine shop of the St Nikolaus Hospital in Bernkastel-Kues for the big overview, lunch in the old town, then on to Wehlen in the afternoon for Markus Molitor with a view of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr. If you still have time, carry on to Zeltingen-Rachtig and Kloster Machern.

Route 2 - Trier and the tributaries: a cellar tour in the morning at the Vereinigte Hospitien or the Bischöfliche Weingüter in the middle of Trier, lunch in the old town, then out in the afternoon to Mertesdorf for Maximin Grünhaus (ten kilometres) or to the Saar for van Volxem (a good 20 kilometres). Both are perfectly doable without a car if you take a taxi.

Route 3 - steep slopes and walking: the Calmont via ferrata near Bremm in the morning or an easier Moselsteig stage, lunch on the way, and a tasting at Clemens Busch in Pünderich in the afternoon - which fits perfectly, because you then have in the glass the slate you have just climbed.

Important - driving and wine: Germany has a 0.5 limit - but 0.0 for newly qualified drivers in their probationary period and for everyone under 21, even after the probationary period ends. The Mosel offers more alternatives to the car than most wine regions: the cycle path, passenger boats between the wine villages, guided vineyard walks with a tasting at the grower's afterwards. Use them - the roads in the Mosel valley are narrow and winding.

Restaurants for wine lovers

Fine dining

schanz. restaurant. (Piesport) - three Michelin stars in the middle of the wine village of Piesport, and the first address for Riesling fans: the wine list is exceptionally deep in Mosel wines, supplemented by France and Italy and looked after by a sommelier of its own. If you are planning one big evening on this trip, plan it here. Info: Michelin Guide↗ · Google Maps↗

Waldhotel Sonnora (Dreis) - also three stars, around half an hour from Bernkastel-Kues in the Eifel. The wine list is very extensive and particularly strong in mature German Rieslings - it carries old Auslesen from estates you have just been visiting on the Mosel. That is exactly what makes the evening. Info: Michelin Guide↗ · Google Maps↗

BECKER'S (Trier-Olewig) - the most interesting double role in the region: Wolfgang Becker is a trained grower and runs an estate of his own with his wife, whose wines are on the list. Alongside the gourmet restaurant there is the more relaxed BECKER'S Weinhaus with its own cellar, plus tours on the Trier wine trail and tastings. Info: Michelin Guide↗ · Google Maps↗

Relaxed

Straußwirtschaften - the most honest way to drink Mosel wine: growers pour their own wines in their yard or cellar, with simple food alongside. Around 46 of them between the Saar and the lower Mosel have joined forces, and you can collect stamps on a shared card. They open only a few months a year - look for the bunch of greenery or the wreath above the door. Overview↗

Doctor Weinstube (Bernkastel-Kues) - a classic wine tavern with Mosel wines from renowned estates of the region, named after the world-famous Bernkasteler Doctor site directly above the village. A good place to try several producers side by side. Info: Website↗ · Google Maps↗

Waldschenke "Zur Eisernen Weinkarte" (above Bernkastel-Kues) - on the footpath towards Traben-Trarbach, above the rooftops of the town: hearty cooking and a panoramic view into the Mosel valley. The right stop after a vineyard walk. Info: Google Maps↗

Wine shops & wine bars

• Vinothek im St.-Nikolaus-Hospital (Bernkastel-Kues) - the most important stop in this guide: in the historic vaulted cellars of the Cusanus foundation stand over 150 Mosel Rieslings open for tasting - the largest selection anywhere in one place, from simple Qualitätswein through Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese to Beerenauslese and ice wine. There is a flat-rate concept that lets you taste your way through the entire range for around 35 euros, and in the attached shop every wine tasted can be bought. Daily from April to October, afternoons in winter; visiting without a tasting is free. More information↗ · Google Maps↗
• die Mosel Vinothek & Winebar (Traben-Trarbach) - in an 1890 wine merchant's villa with a sun terrace above the river: over 200 wines from across the Mosel, from classic Riesling to natural wine, plus a kitchen somewhere between Spanish tapas and Japanese izakaya. Wednesday to Sunday, closed Monday and Tuesday. Website↗ · Google Maps↗
• Weinbar Trier - right by the Porta Nigra, around 230 wines across two floors and a good 20 wines and sparkling wines by the glass every day. The best evening stop in Trier. Website↗ · Google Maps↗
• Kloster Machern (Zeltingen-Rachtig) - a former Cistercian convent right on the river, surrounded by vineyards. The site holds several wine shops, a wine bistro and a monastery café; tastings by appointment, on request in English and French too. Website↗ · Google Maps↗

Wine experiences & festivals

• Weinfest der Mittelmosel (early September, Bernkastel-Kues): the region's biggest festival, five days around the first Sunday in September. The high points are the crowning of the wine queen, the "wine street" as an opening tasting evening, fireworks and the big parade. Guided wine walks are laid on too.
• Weinlagenfest Cochem (early July) on the riverbank with a view of the old town and the Reichsburg, the Moselwein-Festival Traben-Trarbach (July) and the Federweißen festival in Cochem (November) at harvest time fill out the calendar. In late June Trier celebrates its old town festival.
• Calmont via ferrata (Bremm/Ediger-Eller): the steepest vineyard in Europe, 380 metres high with gradients of up to 65 degrees. The secured route runs some three kilometres straight through the vines, with ladders, safety cables and footholds; the circuit covers about 6.5 kilometres and 470 metres of ascent. A head for heights and sure footing are required, and it is nothing for small children. If you really want to understand the Mosel's steep sites, you have to stand in one.
• Moselsteig: 365 kilometres in 24 stages from Perl to the Deutsches Eck in Koblenz, certified as a "Leading Quality Trail - Best of Europe". Individual stages run from 11 to 24 kilometres, from very easy to demanding - so you need not walk the whole thing to take the best of it.
• Mosel cycle path: 248 kilometres from Perl to Koblenz in ten stages, an ADFC quality route, mostly surfaced and almost entirely free of gradients. The most relaxed way to link several wine villages in a day - and the reason the Mosel works so well for wine trips without a car.
• Mosel boat services: from Easter to October, among others between Traben-Trarbach and Bernkastel-Kues (around two hours each way) and from Cochem towards Koblenz, Zell and Beilstein.
• Mosel wine museum (Bernkastel-Kues): in the same building as the great wine shop, with a multimedia world of experience covering 2,000 years of winegrowing history - the rainy-day tip.

Practical tips

Tasting costs - but is often credited: contrary to widespread assumption, tastings at the Mosel's leading estates are charged for as a matter of course, usually 20 to 35 euros. The amount is frequently waived or credited above a certain level of purchase, though - at Markus Molitor from 300 euros, at Maximin Grünhaus from 200 euros per person, and at the Bischöfliche Weingüter there is a discount on wine bought the same day. So if you were going to take wine home anyway, you effectively taste for nothing.

Getting there without a car: the Mosel railway line links Koblenz, Cochem, Bullay, Wittlich and Trier; at Bullay the Moselweinbahn branches off for 13 kilometres to Traben-Trarbach. One important planning note: Bernkastel-Kues no longer has a station - the line was closed, and you arrive by bus from Wittlich or Bullay.

Taking wine home: within the EU there is no customs border and no practical quantity question - simply load up. Almost all the estates named sell direct from the cellar door and have online shops of their own, so you can reorder if a bottle convinces you at home. As on any wine trip: do not leave boxes standing in a hot car.

What to buy: a dry Riesling from one of the great sites, if you want to show how precise German wine can be. Above all, though, a Kabinett - light, with a delicate residual sweetness, under ten per cent alcohol and unobtainable in this form anywhere else in the world. It is the best proof that Riesling does not have to be dry to taste grown-up. If you want something really special, take an Auslese - it will keep for decades if you store it properly.

And while you're there: Mosel labels are the hardest in Germany for a beginner - village name, site name, Prädikat and producer packed into the smallest of spaces. The Grape Guru app scanner unpicks that in seconds and tells you whether what is landing in the glass is a dry wine or a Spätlese.