Luxembourg wine country (by kerouac2)

[Deleted]

Wine in Luxembourg is produced exclusively in the Moselle valley which benefits from a micro climate about 2° warmer than the rest of the country particularly on the slopes with a southwest exposure. The Celts, the Gauls and the Romans all made wine throughout Luxembourg but the winter of 1709 wiped out all of the vineyards except along the Moselle, which has been the exclusive winemaking region of the country since then. It was basically just for local consumption until the early 20th century and not until 1935 that it got its exclusive (and only) appellation -- Moselle Luxembourgeoise -- to classify its wines. The wine is sold almost exclusively in Luxembourg and Belgium although some is sold in bulk to Germany to make ordinary blends.

As usual, non locals can get very confused about the wines of the Moselle, since the Germans tend to make sweeter wines, while the French and Luxembourgers make dry wine, and all three countries sell a wine called Riesling. North Americans are more familiar with German Riesling and are often quite shocked that the Riesling from west of the Moselle or the Rhine does not taste at all the same.

Anyway, here is the wine region of Luxembourg.



I took the Luxembourg-Trier autoroute to Grevenmacher, where I picked up the bucolic route du vin along the river.



Germany is just across the water of course with its own Mosel vineyards.









The bicycle path that follows the Moselle is also very appealing.







It is still very early in the season for vineyards situated so far north.







A few lanes lead up to the hills but not for everybody.

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It seemed as though I had the road almost to myself a lot of the time.





Actually, both the road and the river get very busy in the summer.





Besides the town signs along the road, there are also signs facing the river to inform the boaters where they are.







A German village church

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On the German side, camping is clearly very popular.









Remich is the principal resort town of Luxembourg. You would think it is on the Côte d'Azur with the luxury hotels and restaurants.







It has a very nice esplanade along the river.



Geese were on patrol everywhere.









Excessive wine consumption may have caused birth defects in the fountain man. I found his legs very strange. Or perhaps he is a hobbit.

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one of the links with Germany



I could see just one modest German restaurant across the river from Remich.



The restaurant slates propose meals to tourists in their language.



There are many cruises on the Moselle that leave from here. Quite a few of them are one way to places like Trier with a return by bus.







CFL is the name of the Luxembourg national railways, but here it means taking a bus.



This esplanade is obviously used for special events. I wish there had been one today.









No need to install parasols if you know how to grow your trees.



I walked into town a little away from the river.





Of course sometimes the river comes to town according to the flood markers.







All of these are restaurants waiting for the nice weather.



Luxembourg does not really have much in the way of national cuisine, so it serves the dishes of its southern neighbour.



After leaving Remich, I took just one photo in Schengen.



Then I was off to Mondorf-les-Bains, another resort town with a big casino close to the big city, but just to fill the petrol tank before going to France. The weather changed abruptly.



I took one last photo of the former customs post from the neighbouring village of Mondorff, France.

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This is quite interesting and deserves another good look through. I always like to see how cities built along a river embrace the shoreline, or not.

Do people there not have legs?  

[Deleted]

Yes, I noticed that the washerwomen looked rather stumpy as well.

[bixaorellana]

May 18, 2016 3:33:44 GMT kerouac2 said:

... I picked up the bucolic route du vin along the river.

Bucolic, indeed! What a lovely drive and wonderful that you went when it wasn't crammed with other cars. Also nice that the rain held off for that portion of the trip.

After looking at your report on Colmar, I am surprised to see how lightly people are dressed in this report. You mentioned the microclimate, but it looks quite a bit warmer there. What day were you there? The museum roof in Schengen caved in a few days ago because of a storm. I'm wondering if that was part of the rain you show from the Mondorf area.

Lots of great pictures -- you have a particular knack with geese! The area is really beautiful except that Remich seems to specialize in hokey statues.

[Deleted]

That accident happened on May 10th. I was there on the 14th, but it was still stormy in the area. I heard a bit of thunder while I was there.

The temperature along the Moselle was quite nice. The light soil of the vineyards seems to reflect quite a bit of heat, even when the sun is weak.

[lagatta]

I've had a sparkling wine from Luxembourg, which was nice. They sell it here in Québec.

As for Germany, Moselle wine tends to be sweet (I don't like it) but the wines of the Rheingau can be very mineral dry.

[kerouac2]

The Moselle has started flooding again this year. I wonder if they will have to add new flood plaques to the walls of Remich.