The Upper Moselle (german: Obermosel) is the section of the River Moselle, 45 kilometres long, that runs from the

Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ref ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...

near

Perl Perl is a family of two high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming languages. "Perl" refers to Perl 5, but from 2000 to 2019 it also referred to its redesigned "sister language", Perl 6, before the latter's name was offic ...

to its confluence with the Saar near

Konz Konz ( la, link=no, Contionacum) is a city in the Trier-Saarburg district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated at the confluence of the rivers Saar and Moselle, approx. 8 km southwest of Trier. Konz is the seat of the ''Verbandsg ...

shortly before

Trier Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...

. From the tripoint to its confluence with the

Sauer The Sauer (German and Luxembourgish, , ) or Sûre ( French, ) is a river in Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. A left tributary of the Moselle, its total length is . Rising near Vaux-sur-Sûre in the Ardennes in southeastern Belgium, the Sauer ...

, the Upper Moselle forms the border between the German states of the

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

and

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

on the one side and

on the other. This stretch of the river known as the Upper Moselle is, however, not the same as the geographical upper reaches of the Moselle, which run from its source near

Bussang Bussang (; or ''Büssing'') is a commune in the Vosges department in Grand Est in Northeastern France. Known as the source of the Moselle River The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges moun ...

in the

Vosges mountains The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...

via

Épinal Épinal (; german: Spinal) is a commune in northeastern France and the prefecture of the Vosges department. Geography The commune has a land area of . It is situated on the river Moselle, south of Nancy. Épinal station has rail connecti ...

and Nancy roughly as far as

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand ...

. Vineyards have been cultivated on the slopes of the Upper Moselle since

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

. This wine-growing area is part of Germany's Moselle wine region (prior to 2007 it was known as the Moselle-Saar-Ruwer wine region) and bears the further title of the Southern Wine Moselle (''Südliche Weinmosel''). The Luxembourgois call the road running along the Upper Moselle on the Luxembourg bank of the river, the Luxembourg Wine Road. It is ironic that the only wine growing region of the state of

is not actually on the River Saar, but on the Upper Moselle in the municipality of

. But this is not where Saar wine is made which is also part of the Moselle wine region; that comes from the lower reaches of the Saar in the state of

. The wine made in the Saarland in the Moseltor ("Moselle Gate") area is also a Moselle wine. The

grape varieties This list of grape varieties includes cultivated grapes, whether used for wine, or eating as a table grape, fresh or dried (raisin, currant, sultana). For a complete list of all grape species including those unimportant to agriculture, see Viti ...

grown on the Upper Moselle include Rivaner/

Müller-Thurgau Müller-Thurgau is a white grape variety (sp. ''Vitis vinifera'') which was created by Hermann Müller from the Swiss Canton of Thurgau in 1882 at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in Germany. It is a crossing of Riesling with Madeleine ...

, Kerner,

Pinot Blanc Pinot blanc is a white wine grape. It is a point genetic mutation of Pinot noir. Pinot noir is genetically unstable and will occasionally experience a point mutation in which a vine bears all black fruit except for one cane which produces white ...

(''Weißer Burgunder'') and Pinot Noir (''Blauer Spätburgunder'') as well as

Elbling Elbling is a variety of white grape (sp. ''Vitis vinifera'') which today is primarily grown in the upstream parts of the Mosel region in Germany and in Luxembourg, where the river is called Moselle. The variety has a long history, and used t ...

, which is typical of the Upper Moselle and which the Romans are supposed to have introduced. In addition the

wineries A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, b ...

on the Upper Moselle offer sparkling wine (''Winzersekt''), wine and fruit spirits and liqueurs. They mainly market their products themselves and also offer them in wine or wine-tasting bars, wine taverns known as '' Straußwirtschaften'' and, during the summer months, at vineyard open days (''Hoffesten'').

External links

Tourism on the Saar and Upper Moselle

Culture and Orchid Path, Wasserliesch
{{coord missing, Rhineland-Palatinate Landscapes of Rhineland-Palatinate Moselle Valleys of Rhineland-Palatinate Articles containing video clips

See also

External links