Viticultural Map of the Saar and Mosel (Vineyard Classification)

WINE TALK
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On page 12 of our translation of Karl Heinrich Koch’s 1897 Moselwein, which I’m in the process of updating, I wrote a long footnote about the historic Prussian tax map. Below is my summary followed by a list of the best sites.

Franz Josef Clotten’s 1868 Saar und Mosel Weinbau-Karte (Viticultural Map of the Saar and Mosel), which was a vineyard classification used for marketing Saar and Mosel wines, listed most of the top sites and simplified the eight Prussian tax brackets to three: 1 and 2 were signified by dark red; 3, 4, and 5 by light red (or light brown on the 1890/1906 editions); 6, 7, and 8 by beige. The tax assessments were based on the net income on a Fuder sold between 1816 and 1832. They were the meticulous work of a Prussian bureaucrat from Frankfurt an der Oder, Otto Beck, who was based in Trier. (His full name was Johann Otto Ferdinand Beck.) The first of four editions of Clotten’s map was printed in 1868 (500 copies); the last, from 1906, shows extensive new plantings, especially on the Saar and Ruwer.

Beck’s 1869 Der Weinbau an der Mosel und Saar (Viticulture on the Mosel and Saar) accompanied Clotten’s 1868 Saar und Mosel Weinbau-Karte for the district of Trier. Beck goes into detail how the Prussian state levied a land tax to determine the value of the various vineyard sites.

Among the best sites, Beck lists the following villages (and vineyards):

A. On the Saar and side valleys, including the district of Saarburg: Wiltinger (especially Scharzhofberger), Ockfener (especially Bocksteiner), Schodener (especially Geisberger), Ayler, Kanzemer, Wawerner (especially Herrenberger).

B. On the Mosel and side valleys:

  1. In the urban district of Trier: Thiergärtner, Avelsbacher, Olewig-Neuberger;
  2. In the rural district of Trier: a) above Trier: Oberemmeler (especially Rauler, Agritiusberger), Krettnacher, Niedermenniger (Euchariusberger), Könener (red); b) below Trier in the Ruwer Valley: Grünhäuser, Kaseler, Eitelsbacher; in Pfalzel: Augenscheiner.
  3. In the district of Wittlich: Piesporter, Ürziger, Kinheimer, and Kröver.
  4. In the district of Bernkastel: Oligsberger and Neuberger [Wintricher Geierslay], Brauneberger, Doktor at Bernkastel, Josefshöfer at Graach, Wehlener, Erdener, Thronhofberger [Dhroner Hofberg], and Zeltinger.

Beck wrote that wine country really begins on the Mosel proper first below Trier at Trittenheim, Piesport, and Neumagen, where the morning and midday sun shines on the wind-protected steep slate slopes. It’s on these hillsides, the Moselaner says, that the vine has some sunshine from the morning till evening.

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Fascinating - in particular how the urban Trier vineyards have faded from favour.

And to see the esteem Geierslay wa held in.

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The vineyards in the city of Trier were tops in the Mosel, especially those on the list. Olewig-Neuberger is a small section on a south-facing slope of today’s Trierer Deutschherrenberg.

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Are there any estates farming those sites now?

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Yes, Georg Fritz von Nell has Thiergarten and a vineyard in Avelsbacher Herrenberg, among other sites in Trier. Vereinigte Hospitien possesses Olewig-Neuberg and Augenscheiner. Bischöfliche Weingüter Trier owns most of Avelsbacher Altenberg and Herrenberg.

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It’s worth pointing out that Neuberg is the present Geierslay, whereas the original “Geierslay” probably included portions of today’s Wintricher Ohligsberg and Wintricher Großer Herrgott. (“Geierslayer” had various spellings and was used on occasion in the mid-20th century as a quasi-communal name, as in “Geierslayer Ohligsberg.”)

I made a note of this in our translation of the book, too.

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Also of note is the red from Könen on the Saar, though listed in the rural district of Trier.

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In Moselwein, Karl Heinrich Koch wrote the following about a vineyard classification (see pages 12–14):

A classification according to the places of production is not feasible. Not all that grows in the vineyards of Piesport, on the great Brauneberg hillside, or in Oberemmel, etc. is top quality. One could rank the individual vineyard sites on the basis of the property tax assessment, which has introduced a classification in eight brackets, but this would require an enormous amount of work and would not result in a useful overview. The following general statements, however, are possible.

The best growths come from Scharzhofberg, Bockstein, and Geisberg, from Agritiusberg, Rosenberg, and the site of Raul on the Saar; Piesport, Brauneberg, Bernkastel (Doctor), Josephshof, and Zeltinger Schlossberg on the Mosel. Since the remarkable results of the 1893 vintage, Maximiner Grünhäuser Herrenberger from the Ruwer also belongs in this category.

This is followed by other growths traveling downstream by location: a) on the Saar: Ayler, Scharzberger, Kanzemer, Wawerner Herrenberger; b) on the Mosel: Thiergärtner, Avelsbacher, Augenscheiner, Kaseler, Mertesdorfer, Karthäuserhofberger (the last three in the Ruwer Valley), Neumagener, Dhroner, Minheimer, Ohligsberger, Neuberger, Geiersleyer, Paulinsberger, Elisenberger, Niederberger, Graacher, Wehlener, Zeltinger, Ürziger, Erdener, Lösenicher, Kinheimer, Trarbacher, Trabener, Enkircher.

Then come the remaining wines of the Middle Mosel and those of the Lower Mosel, among which Cochem, Kobern, and Winningen distinguish themselves with better-quality production.

Koch lists more top sites in his chapter on the wine villages of the Mosel.

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I’m still getting asked, “Do you still sell copies of Clotten’s map?” The answer is no. I stopped selling and shipping it many years ago, but I can refer you to the Weberbach city library/archive in Trier. The map only costs 35 euros. There is an order form and an email address on the page (see link).

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