Bernkastel-Kues - Piesport, roundtrip

Walnut grove

Juffer sonnenuhr, Brauneberger Juffer, wine presses from 1890, Roman wine presses

Viticulture came to the Moselle with the Romans. Til today the best and richest wines grow on the slopes that were already cultivated by the Romans. According to the current state of archaeological research the first wine presses were built towards the end of the 2nd or beginning of the 3rd century on the steep slopes of Brauneberg (Juffer), Piesports (Goldtröpfchen, gold droplets) and Erdens (Treppchen, podium). This makes them one of the oldest pieces of Roman evidence of winegrowing on the Moselle. In the Moselle section between Piesport, 10 km upstream, and Wolf, 22 km downstream, twelve ancient wine presses have been identified so far, two of which are in the Brauneberger Juffer vineyard. The Roman double wine press: Pressers are systems for pressing grapes directly at the vineyard. The eastern wine press, which has now been reconstructed, is the oldest one and includes a mash tank and a press tank and two must basins. In the 4th century a second western press was built with two mash houses a press tank and two must tanks. In both applications layers, white and red grapes were processed by one Vineyard area, which recently reached more than 30 hectares. Various These small finds from the 6th century prove that the western complex was used at least until the Merovingian period. The Brauneberger Juffer and Brauneberger Juffer vineyards Sundial, opposite on the other side of the Moselle, is one of the best wine locations in the world for 1800 years. During Roman times, the mountain was completely covered with vines plants, but - unlike in antiquity - these days only with the white Riesling vine, the queen of grapes. The Roman winemakers grew red as well as white wine grape varieties. The Riesling has very high demands on temperature and soil quality. They are grown because of an order from the Trier Elector Clemens Wenzeslaus in the year 1787. Only in a mineral rich soil can the plant produce these incomparable delicate, fragrant and aromatic wines that represent the highest level of the wine pyramid.

Mosel flood levels

Beach

Roadside café

Wintrich locks

Mosel Brücke, Minheim, St.Nicholaus

Piesport map

Wine store machine

Loreleyfelsen cliffs

The Loreleyfelsen der Mosel - a natural monument - rises almost vertically from the banks Loreleyfelsen der Mosel. Between 1852 and 1872 and between 1937 and 1939 copper glance ore and potter' s ore was mined in the rock formation. Description of the mine from the year 1938: "There are two tunnels driven into the rock at different levels. A small access road has been built in front of the higher tunnel and there is a shack here built as a visible half-timber construction. The broken stones containing the ore are sent to the lower working level via a slide. There is a small building with a pitch roof at both the top and bottom end. The local workers and those from further afield were brought to work via a boat and the stones containing the ore were sent about 2.5 km down the river to the processing plant on the river Rondelbach where it was prepared for smelting. The delivered material had to be washed and probably crushed here with hammers. In World War II the local population used the tunnels as shelters during air raids; today they are inhabited by bats, in particular the upper tunnel. Of the original buildings, only parts of the smelting shop are still visible. Despite the difficult and steep landscape, the Loreley area is still used for growing wine. During the wine harvest, the grapes are transported by boat to the "Reinsporter Ufer" on the opposite bank of the river. These boat trips attract crowds of onlookers.

Michaelsbrücke, Moselbrücke Piesport

Roman wine press

Roman wine press

Kleine kapelle

Goldtröpfchen vineyard

Michelskirch

Baumelbank

Burglay, Roman fortification

Prstkapelle viewpoint, plague chapel

Juffer sonnenuhr

Roman winery

Lieser river meets Mosel river

Lieser Castle

Cusanus birthplace

Burg Landshut