Terrassenmosel: Lower Mosel (Winningen - Uhlen Laubach GG, Röttgen; Heymann-Löwenstein, Reinhard & Beate Knebel)

The first written record of winegrowing in Winningen is a document from the year 871, and the vineyards spread step by step into the extreme steep sites, which only became usable once terraces were built by hand. Moselwein e.V. calls the terraces built by hand over centuries, for example at Winningen, an impressive cultural monument. The Röttgen's rock was impossible to cultivate until modern times; the viticultural pioneer Johann P. Bronner (1792-1864) wrote that only after the 1820s was it "blasted with gunpowder and worked by many helping hands". In 1984 Heymann-Löwenstein decided to ferment its wines fully, forgoing Prädikats such as Kabinett, and as far back as 1985 it described its best parcels in Röttgen and Uhlen as grand crus.

• The first written record of Winningen viticulture is a document from 871
• Johann P. Bronner (1792-1864) wrote that the Röttgen was "blasted with gunpowder" after the 1820s
• Heymann-Löwenstein: founded in 1980 by Reinhard Löwenstein and Cornelia Heymann-Löwenstein, from a family growing grapes in the same place since 1520
• Heymann-Löwenstein decided in 1984 to ferment its wines fully and to forgo Prädikats such as Kabinett

The Terrassenmosel lies between Zell and Koblenz, where the Mosel valley grows ever narrower and the slopes are often so steep that vines grow only on narrow terraces secured by dry-stone walls. The rocks and soils of the lower Mosel were once sandy beaches and mudflats of a primordial ocean: quartzitic sandstones, silt and clay slate form most of the soils, and calcareous sandstone, formed where coral skeletons settled, shapes some sites. Clayish slate and greywacke are also found in the lower Mosel valley. The Devonian slate is 400 million years old, and the heat it stores is a considerable advantage in cool autumn nights. In Winningen, the Uhlen Laubach faces south-southwest with slopes of 100 to 150%, the Uhlen Roth Lay faces south on grey to dark red, very iron-rich slate, and the Uhlen Blaufüsser Lay faces southwest on blue-grey clay-bearing slate. The Röttgen faces south-southeast and rises from 80 to 180 metres above sea level; with gradients of up to 170%, it is one of the steepest vineyards in Germany.

• The Uhlen Roth Lay slope rises to 240 metres with an inclination of up to more than 170%; the rare Apollo butterfly has its largest distribution north of the Alps here
• Heymann-Löwenstein sees three radically different characters under the one Uhlen name; all three are VDP.GROSSE LAGE: Laubach (grey slate with a high fossil lime content), Roth Lay (grey to dark red, very iron-rich slate) and Blaufüsser Lay (blue-grey clay-bearing slate)
• The Röttgen's blue slate oxidizes quickly to a yellow-brown colour, and in long sun petroleum can bake out of the rock, giving it a blue shimmer
• Knebel practises viticulture in extreme steep sites, where the terraces tower up between slate cliffs

Heymann-Löwenstein's grape varieties are Riesling and Spätburgunder, and Knebel's are Riesling and Weißburgunder. Dry wines from VDP.GROSSE LAGE sites are called VDP.GROSSES GEWÄCHS, while fruity and noble sweet wines from those sites carry the classic Prädikats. Heymann-Löwenstein makes its Uhlen Laubach, Uhlen Roth Lay, Uhlen Blaufüsser Lay and Röttgen wines dry as VDP.GROSSES GEWÄCHS, vinified exclusively with wild yeasts in wooden barrels, without enzymes or fining agents, and aged on the lees at least until the summer after harvest. In notable years it also makes residually sweet Auslesen, Beerenauslesen and Trockenbeerenauslesen from Uhlen Laubach, Uhlen Roth Lay and Röttgen. Knebel counts the wines from its two Grosse Lagen, Röttgen and Uhlen, as its most expressive, made dry as Grosses Gewächs and noble sweet, and the estate uses no cultivated yeast, fining agents, deacidification or Süssreserve.

• Heymann-Löwenstein uses the name Schieferterrassen for wines from its ERSTE LAGE parcels in the Devonian Rittersturz slate
• Knebel's estate shop lists a Röttgen Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese and Trockenbeerenauslese and an Uhlen Auslese alongside its Röttgen and Uhlen Grosses Gewächs
• Heymann-Löwenstein grows Pinot Noir on several parcels, a rare exception to its Riesling rule
• Mosel Riesling spans every sweetness level and quality tier, from feinherb Qualitätswein and mineral dry top wines to light Kabinett and noble sweet Eiswein

Heymann-Löwenstein, at Bahnhofstraße 10 in Winningen, has been a VDP member since 1997. It was founded in 1980 by Reinhard Löwenstein and Cornelia Heymann-Löwenstein; the estate credits Sarah Löwenstein, the 14th generation, with decisive impetus over the last 10 years, and the winery has now been handed over, with Thomas Dörr continuing it with the support of Jochen Heigoldt. Weingut Knebel, at August-Horch-Straße 24 in Winningen, traces its roots to 1642; Reinhard and Beate Knebel founded their own winery in 1989, when, in the estate's words, the Terrassenmosel was almost unknown in the wine world, and Matthias Knebel joined its management in 2008, straight after his studies. Beate and Matthias Knebel are the owners, and Knebel has been a VDP member since 2017. Knebel labels also carry the FairChoice sustainability seal.

• Heymann-Löwenstein: VDP member since 1997; grape varieties Riesling and Spätburgunder; a sparkling wine producer at VDP.SEKT.PRESTIGE level
• Heymann-Löwenstein makes VDP.GROSSES GEWÄCHS from Uhlen Laubach, Uhlen Roth Lay, Uhlen Blaufüsser Lay and Röttgen, each a VDP.GROSSE LAGE
• Weingut Knebel: VDP member since 2017; owners Beate and Matthias Knebel; grape varieties Riesling and Weißburgunder
• Heymann-Löwenstein and Knebel are both VDP growers in Uhlen Laubach, Uhlen Roth Lay and Uhlen Blaufüsser Lay

The Mosel growing region is divided under wine law into six Bereiche, with Burg Cochem covering the Terrassenmosel from Koblenz to Zell. The VDP classification is not set by German wine law but by the VDP's own private rules; its four-tier model of VDP.GUTSWEIN, VDP.ORTSWEIN, VDP.ERSTE LAGE and VDP.GROSSE LAGE was adopted unanimously in January 2012, which the VDP calls analogous to Burgundy's Premier Crus and Grands Crus. VDP.GROSSE LAGE vineyards are precisely demarcated by parcel and harvested selectively by hand, and white VDP.GROSSES GEWÄCHS wines are released on September 1 after roughly one year of maturation. After many years, Heymann-Löwenstein convinced the EU to register Uhlen Blaufüsser Lay, Laubach and Roth Lay as Protected Designations of Origin, which the estate calls the first single sites in Germany to qualify for the system of appellations d'origine contrôlées; their rules include Riesling only, dry, off-dry and nobly sweet taste profiles only, and no Kabinett or Spätlese. Each Prädikat has a defined minimum must weight that depends on the grape variety and growing region, and Prädikat wines may not be enriched.

• Röttgen, Uhlen Laubach, Uhlen Roth Lay and Uhlen Blaufüsser Lay in Winningen are VDP.GROSSE LAGE
• The Uhlen PDOs rest on a precise geological delineation by the State Office for Geology
• Dry wines from VDP.GROSSE LAGE sites are VDP.GROSSES GEWÄCHS; fruity and noble sweet wines carry the classic Prädikats
• Spätlese is not necessarily sweet, and Auslese is not always sweet

Heymann-Löwenstein, at Bahnhofstraße 10 in Winningen, is open Friday and Saturday 11.00 to 18.00 and by appointment; it has a vinotheque for tasting, and its architecture includes a historic art nouveau villa and the modern 'Kubus'. Weingut Knebel is at August-Horch-Straße 24 in Winningen. Decanter's Mosel cycling itinerary ends its fourth day, Cochem to Koblenz, at the Deutsches Eck, where the Mosel meets the Rhine, and lists Richard Richter in Winningen among the estates for that stage. The dry-stone walls of Uhlen Laubach are a habitat for houseleek, sedum, Apollo butterflies and lizards.

• Heymann-Löwenstein: open Friday and Saturday 11.00 to 18.00 and by appointment
• Decanter's Cochem-to-Koblenz stage lists Richard Richter in Winningen among its estates
• Moselwein e.V. calls the hand-built terraces at Winningen an impressive cultural monument

Primary sources (Deutsches Weininstitut / Wines of Germany, Moselwein e.V. at weinland-mosel.de, the VDP at vdp.de, and the estates' own sites hl.wine and matthiasknebel.com): https://www.winesofgermany.com/our-regions/growing-area/72/mosel, https://www.weinland-mosel.de/de/die-region/die-teilregionen, https://www.weinland-mosel.de/de/die-region/wurzeln-geologie, https://www.hl.wine/en/löwenstein-family, https://www.hl.wine/en/uhlen-laubach, https://www.hl.wine/en/uhlen-roth-lay, https://www.hl.wine/en/uhlen-blaufuesser-lay, https://www.hl.wine/en/roettgen, https://www.hl.wine/en/schieferterrassen, https://www.hl.wine/en/classification-of.the-vineyards, https://www.matthiasknebel.com/pages/unsere-geschichte, https://www.matthiasknebel.com/pages/die-terrassenmosel, https://www.matthiasknebel.com/pages/uber-uns, https://www.vdp.de/en/die-winzer/mosel/heymann-loewenstein-vdp, https://www.vdp.de/en/die-winzer/mosel/vdpweingut-knebel, https://www.matthiasknebel.com/collections/vdp-grosses-gewaechs, https://www.vdp.de/en/the-wines/vineyardonline/lage/4104-roettgen, https://www.vdp.de/en/the-wines/vineyardonline/lage/4133-uhlen-laubach, https://www.vdp.de/en/the-wines/vineyardonline/lage/4134-uhlen-roth-lay, https://www.vdp.de/en/the-wines/vineyardonline/lage/4130-uhlen-blaufuesser-lay, https://www.winesofgermany.com/our-wine/quality-standards/quality-standard/449/pr%C3%A4dikat-categories, https://www.vdp.de/en/the-wines/classification, https://www.weinland-mosel.de/de/wein-sekt/rebsorten. Secondary source: https://www.decanter.com/features/meandearing-along-the-mosel-247040/. Last verified 2026-10-05