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Viticulture: The 'Nahe-Wine Street'
Because of its varied soil, fruity, distinctive and elegant wines ripen on
the slopes of the Nahe and have contributed to the region being called the
"Nahe-Wine Street" (since 1971). It is also called the wine-tasting area of
the German wine region. The steep slopes of the region are especially well
suited to bringing out the fine quality of the
Riesling
with its fruity acidity, mostly dry in nature, and of the highest quality.
The Müller-Thurgau grape is less demanding to its soil, is less acidic than
the Riesling and has a slight aroma of nutmeg. The wines range from strong
to powerful in the Lower Nahe area to rather light in the upper Nahe. The
Sylvania grape needs richer soil. When grown in the right locations, this
variety makes very harmonious wines known and appreciated for their balance
and endurance. Besides these "standard" grape sorts, one finds Kerner, Scheurebe,
Bacchus, Faber, Ruländer, and white burgundy, as well as increasingly more
red wine.
Many hundreds of factors determine the character of a wine. The almost unlimited
possibilities of variation and combination make each wine unique. There are
around 400 substances responsible for the taste and aroma of a wine. These
are mostly higher types of alcohol and their esters, as well as aldehyde.
The residual sugar content determines the sweetness of the wine. A
wine is called dry when this is not more than 9 grams per litre, the
term semi-dry is used for wines up to 18 grams per litre as long as
it is acidic enough. The aroma, taste, and quality of a wine depend less upon
the individual substances in the wine and more upon how they harmonize with
each other. The various nuances of aroma and taste are described with special
wine terminology: radiant, solid, robust, elegant, charming, and powerful
are just a few examples. In the
Hallstattzeit
times (800-475 B.C.) Etruscan wine, appropriate drinking equipment and
a variety of other Etruscan art material had already reached the Celtic people
—especially in the Nahe region— via the long European trading route, in exchange
for supplies of raw materials (iron). It is unclear how much wine the Celts
grew themselves. For instance, in the small village Auen —above
Bad Sobernheim
in Soonwald forest— charred remains of Celtic origin were found on a
Roman
water pipe at an excavation site. The remains contained grape seeds, dating
back to about 700 B.C.. The analyses could not answer however if these seeds
were seeds from wild grapes or agriculturally grown grapes. Either way the
finds seem to support the importance of wine in the Nahe valley.
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Nahe Wine Queen (2011-2012)
The Nahe wine queen Carolin Klumb from Langenlonsheim (right) with the Nahe wine princess
Sabrina Schmitt from Guldental in the vineyards of the Nahe valley during the presentation of
an excellent Riesling wine.
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