When I think of Germany and wine

Not all international wine experts know Heinrich Heine, but all wine professionals from abroad have the vineyards in the steep slopes in mind when they think of German wine. The vines of some internationally renowned white wines come from there.

Steep vineyards can be found in the Rheingau, on the Moselle, on the Nahe or on the Elbe in Saxony, for example. International wine experts, who, like the English royal family, have been enthusiastic about German white wines for decades, describe German steep-slope vineyards as iconic.

According to German wine law, steep slopes are defined as those with a gradient of 30 percent or more. One of the most famous steep slopes, the Bremmer Calmont on the Moselle, has a gradient of 68 degrees.

You can get a small impression of the work involved in a vineyard with a steep slope in this video by the well-known winegrower Dr. Loosen from Bernkastel on the Moselle.

Is the steep slope worth it?

Vineyards on steep slopes were already planted on the Rhine and Moselle by the Romans, as the greater amount of sunlight, especially on the southern slope, ensures an ideal microclimate. The soil can also warm up well due to the reduced shade. The vegetation period is generally longer on the slope, so that the grapes have time to ripen well.

If rain is forecast, it drains well and does not lead to waterlogging. However, the latter is problematic during heavy rainfall, as the topsoil on the steep slope is not too extensive.

The golden rule that difficult conditions (slate, quartz, steep slopes) often lead to particularly good wine quality can be understood during wine tastings. The roots of the vines have to find their way into the depths and absorb minerals in the process.

Taste is relative – do you like complex, mineral wines, do you love the clear wines that come from steep slopes or other difficult soil conditions?

Endless, flat vineyards are much easier to cultivate with a high level of machinery and tend to produce broader, fuller-bodied wines.

If you look at the French classification of wines in Burgundy, it is often the middle hillside vineyards that are classified in the highest category.

Pleasure with history

In many wineries, the name of certain wines indicates a particularly good quality, which in the past was often dedicated to the abbot or cent count. In the past, the best wine certainly flowed into the finest wine goblets.

If you compare the prices of wines produced on steep slopes, the price differences to wines grown on the plain are relatively small.

The significantly higher workload, for which fewer and fewer employees can be found, is not remunerated. And investments in drones, the creation of stone terraces and winches, which make human labor easier, also cost money.

Harvesting on the steep slope must be done by hand. This offers the best opportunities for careful selection of the vines.

The German Winegrowers’ Association and many regional associations characterize the German wine buyer as very cost-sensitive. Yet good quality German white wine is competitively priced. If you want to have wines of comparable quality from France, England or even California in your glass, you have to dig much deeper into your pockets.

Globalization versus fragmentation

Importers from other countries complain that German viticulture is still very small-scale. They therefore often concentrate on the absolute top segment of German wines, for which connoisseurs abroad also pay top prices.

Anyone who knows GloriousMe knows that our view is always international and pleasure-oriented. We found the German wine industry’s call that it would be better off if only every inhabitant would buy one more bottle of wine from Germany desperate, but we can understand it, because inflation, rising energy and labor costs and customs duties do not stop at German viticulture.

And the quality of many German winegrowers is at the top level worldwide, especially when it comes to white wine.

Wine tasting © GloriousMe 2025

Drinking less but better wine would be a measure to enable many winegrowers to survive. And if you don’t drink alcohol at all, it’s still worth checking whether the wine was produced on a steep slope the next time you visit a winery, either in person or online, and buying a nice gift for friends.

The idea of indicating on the wine label whether the wine comes from a steep slope is nice, but will probably take decades to be implemented in German wine law.

To do without the inspiring sight of vineyards on steep slopes would be a shame for every hiker and for tourists from all over the world, who are still looking for the Loreley and finding more and more cleared former vineyards, the sight of which is far less romantic.

Buy it or lose it, so that the grape harvest now beginning will not be the last in some vineyards on steep slopes.

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Photographs © Deutsches Weininstitut GmbH