Ediger Elzhofberg
Ediger Elzhofberg is the name of a single location in the Ediger an der Mosel district ( Mosel wine-growing region ). The single layer is part of the Grafschaft large area and belongs to the Terrassenmosel area . The Ediger district has been part of the Ediger-Eller community since 1969 .
Riesling has been grown here for generations, some of which have been family-run for over 300 years . The area is one of the steepest vineyards - individual layers and is located northwest of Ediger Osterlämmchen . It is inclined to the south and characterized by a microclimate. Viticulture by the local winegrowers is still largely done by hand and muscle power due to the steep slope . The stony ground is badly weathered and deep; it consists mainly of slate . The wines develop a characteristic fine fruity aroma. Ediger Elzhofberg is one of Hugh Johnson's Grand Cru wines .
In the Moselle wine-growing map from 1897, the Elzhofberg is divided into the group of the best vineyards on the Moselle. The location is divided into the western area "Elsig" and the eastern area "Langert"
Route of a monorack railway in the steep vineyards
Ediger Elzhofberg, steep terraces
Grape harvest on the steep Elzhofberg
View of Elzhofberg from the other side of the Moselle
Quartzite rock formation against slate in the Elzhofberg
13. Without the "Monorackbahn" the old steep slope would not have been recultivated: Ediger Elzhofberg
Historical wine-growing map with the vineyards of the Terrassenmosel
geology
The geology of the Ediger Elzhofberg vineyard is characterized by alternating layers of red, fine to medium-sized fine sandstones, slagged siltstones and, rarely, clay slates. The rocks that are now particularly at the bottom of the walls in the vineyard were deposited more than 400 million years ago, in the Devonian era in the area of the equator, as sediments in the edge area of an arm of the sea. The deposit area near the coast was a very dynamic and constantly changing system, comparable to the tidal flats on today's German North Sea coast. The fine sandstones are the sediments that were transported from the nearby mainland through rivers into the sea basin. Even today, indications of this transport can still be found in the rocks of the vineyard in some places. The slightly weathered, fine-grained clays and silts could be deposited in still water zones and today form a mineral-rich soil. Together with the rather weather-resistant and nutrient-poor sandstones, this leads to a very balanced soil quality in the vineyard. The striking red color of the rocks can be traced back to iron-rich minerals in the rocks, which were oxidized during the deposition by the oxygen present in the deposition chamber. We find further signs of the primeval sea in the form of fossils that can be observed in the siltstones. In the course of the Upper Devonian , the previously flat layers were covered by a mountain formation that reached its peak in the Carboniferous Age and led to a tilting and metamorphic overprinting of the sediments. As a result of this large-scale plate tectonic activity, the rocks were initially sunk to great depths and then lifted again in the course of the Earth's further history. In the vineyard these processes are expressed today in the steep, south-eastern collapse of the rock layers. Today we see the remains of the once mighty mountains in the hilly landscape of the Rhenish slate mountains, in the southeastern part of which Ediger and the Elzhofberg vineyard are located. A fracture in the rock running perpendicular to the stratification has a strong influence on the permeability of the upper aquifers and has a decisive influence on the hydrology in the vineyard.
Web links
literature
- Dieter Braatz, Ulrich Sauter, Ingo Swoboda, Hendrik Holler: Wine Atlas Germany . 1st edition. Hallwag, Munich, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8338-0638-4 .
- Stuart Pigott , Andreas Durst, Ursula Heinzelmann, Chandra Kurt , Manfred Lüer, Stephan Reinhardt: Wine speaks German . 1st edition. Scherz, Frankfurt am Main, 2007, ISBN 978-3-502-19000-4 .
- Geology: Lucas Gilsberg, Michael Borchert