Nahe Facts

If the Mosel is the oldest center of wine production in Germany, dating to Roman times, then the Nahe is one of the youngest areas to develop significant plantings. That doesn't mean that vines are a recent addition to the landscape-- even through they were planted roughly six centuries after the first plantings in the Mosel region, this still places their arrival somewhere in the eighth century.

The Nahe region is named after the river that crosses the valleys of the forested Hunsrück Hills toward Bingen on the Rhine. The Nahe is geologically diverse, with three major distinct subregions plus many interesting outlying towns. Therefore, Nahe wines are capable of being diverse despite being produced from only a few grape varieties. At their best, Nahe Rieslings are incredibly complex, with distinct floral, fruit, and mineral elements. As befits the region's geographical location (southeast of the Mosel, but west of the vineyards in the Rhinegau and Rhinehessen), wines from the Nahe rest somewhere between these other two regions in style. We often find in these Rieslings the delicacy and acidity of wines from the Mosel married with the roundness and increased opulence of wines from the Rhine.

Like wines from the Rhine, you'll find Rieslings from the Nahe bottled in tall, brown flutes, compared to the green flutes of the Mosel-Saar Ruwer.