You need neither your taste buds nor an app to ascertain which are the higher-quality vineyards along the steep slopes of Germany’s Mosel river valley. A little church history and a topographical map will do.
For centuries, the more costly wines have come from vineyards high up these slopes, not by and large from those closer to the river itself.
The vineyard names often indicate the grapes’ destinies; the loftier up the ecclesiastical or social scale, the higher the vineyard and the better the wine. At the estate of Maximin Grunhaus, for instance, grapes from the low-lying vineyard Bruderberg (“the monks’ hill”) made everyday wine, while grapes from the higher-up vineyards of Herrenberg (“the choirmasters’ hill”) or the Abtsberg (“the abbot’s hill”) made superior wine. They still do.
In fact, a long stretch of the topmost vineyard areas over the Mosel towns of both Graach and Wehlen is called Himmelreich (“the kingdom of heaven”). That’s as high as it gets.
Those ancient Germans knew that altitude matters to wine grape growing. But how so? Here are a few wines recently tasted to show what matters when growing at high elevations.
Aspect matters
More sunlight, less water and temperature inversions from day through night all conspire to make mountain- or hillside-grown fruit different from that raised on lower slopes or along valley floors.
Rainfall depletes soil as well as draws off nutrient-rich topsoil, depositing it at lower elevations (that’s why and where cereal crops and other food-giving plants thrive on it), forcing grapevines to struggle for both water and nutrients. Stress and struggle actually make for better wine grapes.
Being closer to the sun, often unprotected from it by growing above fog lines, increases sunlight exposure on grape skins and, just like humans tanning poolside, thickens skins and darkens pigments.
If fog does show, it burns off top-down; high slopes are almost always warmer (hence, more encouraging for ripening) than lower slopes during the productive daytime. Some steep slopes, especially if they face into the sun, become solar panels of sorts, an amphitheater for the sun’s light and force.
Not only does nighttime bring cooler temperatures, good for retaining acidity, but because cool air flows downward, the dark also brings drying breezes helpful against diseases, molds and pests.
What generally happens, given this high-altitude combination of sun, soil and lack of water, is darkly colored, thick-skinned fruit, especially for red wine grapes, high acidity and concentrated flavors.
2012 Vinos del Vero La Miranda de Secastilla Garnacha Blanca Somontano, Spain: From an old-vine, high altitude vineyard in northeastern Spain literally uncovered of brush and overgrowth, discovered after laying fallow for many years; most enticing is the combination of “fat,” juicy white peach and pear fruit tied together, as if by baling wire, with tangy acidity. $13
2011 Elena Walch Lagrein Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy: This little-known red grape is better known, especially come summer (it takes well to chilling), for its effusive dark cherry and wild raspberry fruit, chewy but non-grating tannins and long aftertaste. $13-$15
Yield matters
Grapevines at higher elevations just don’t — they can’t — produce as much fruit as vines on more forgiving, generous or fertile soils. “Yields are lower,in genera, 1.5 to 3.5 tons an acre,” says Graham Weerts, winemaker at Sonoma’s Stonestreet Winery, “with those thick skins that protect against the sun and smaller berry size due to lack of water.”
Higher yields, sometimes called “overcropping,” result in a simple diffusion of a vine’s energy into a larger volume of fruit. Concentrate that same energy into a smaller volume, like beaming a laser, and everything goes up along with the altitude: aroma, color, flavor and structural components such as richly rendered tannin and the effusive (though oft-tasted from high-elevation wines) minerality.
This same structural difference also can give wines a long life in the cellar, not only because more elements need more time to work themselves into harmony, but (especially with higher acidity levels) there is just more there to go on and for a longer time.
2009 Stonestreet Alexander Mountain Estate Cabernet Sauvignon “Christopher’s” Alexander Valley Sonoma, California: Savors and scents as long as its name; sure, there is concentration at every level, but like many mountain wines, it’s all delivered so prettily it’s like a linebacker running on tippy-toes. $100
2012 Loimer Gruner Veltliner Langenlois Spiegel Reserve Kamptal, Austria: This is what gruner can be best at, like an apple or pear “dal,” scented with vetiver, whip-snapped with a comet’s tail of white pepper in the finish. $35-$40
2003 Cellers Capafons-Osso Masos d’en Cubells Priorat Catalonia, Spain: Like drinking dark fruit accented with liquid black rock; super rich, suede-like tannin and squee-geeing acidity. $55
2011 M. Chapoutier Hermitage “Sizeranne” Rhone, France: Interesting to taste this 24 hours in the glass after opening: red-black fruit with wide-open “black” aromas (dried rose petal, wet black stone, bresciola, dried piney herbs) and as suave as a chamois rub. $125
Bill St. John has been writing and teaching about wine for more than 40 years. He was food editor at the Denver Post and now lives in Chicago. E-mail him at bsjtrib@gmail.com.
