The Mosel region used to produce some of the premier European wine. But vine disease, war, and bad laws changed all that. Now, a new crop of vintners are trying to bring the area back.

The world’s most ethereal wines are produced in a small region in northwestern Germany, where the Mosel River flows northward in tight hairpin curves beneath steep fractured-slate hillsides dotted with century-old Riesling vines. Too few people know these wines.

The Mosel region is arguably the most storied, least-understood wine region in the world. Romans first cultivated vines there in the 2nd century B.C., and viticulture flourished. By the late 19th century, wines from the Mosel had become widely sought-after, commanding international acclaim and some of the highest prices in the world, matching and eclipsing wines from Champagne and Bordeaux.

via Germany’s Wine Revolution Is Just Getting Started – The Daily Beast.