1960 The U K B G Guide to Drinks (3 rd edition revised)

Part m

SECTION III

WINES OF GERMANY

These come chieflj' from two very well known areas the Rhine and the Moselle. The cultivation of the vine in these parts spread up the Valley of the Rhone from Marseilles into the valleys of the rivers Rhine and Moselle in very early times. Early in the 3rd century A.D. the Roman Emperor of that time ordered the destruction of the vineyards of these areas, but for tunately it was the Emperor Probus who ruled from A.D.276-282 who gave an order for them to be replanted. Some of the more important vineyards were laid out in the 12th century. Quite a number of them belonged to various religious bodies but have since passed into other hands due in the main to the various wars in which the German people have been involved throughout the years. The name given to the wines of the River Rhine is pro bably derived from the town of Hochheim, a to^vn on the River Main, a tributary of the River Rhine. At one time they were known as"Rhenish"wines. In these two areas there are protected valleys, the Rhine, Moselle, Main, Nahe and Saar, in which the cultivation of the vine is possible, even though they are in such a northerly position. Even in the sheltered valleys of these most northerly commercial vineyards, the grapes do not ripen every year,in some years the musts need the addition of sugar, and so the resultant wines are not"fine"wines. In some years the farmers place slates on the ground to reflect the warmth of the sun to the grapes in order to ripen them.

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