Location and municipality
Braunberg corresponds to the local municipality officially named Brauneberg in the Rhineland-Palatinate district of Bernkastel-Wittlich. The municipality belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Bernkastel-Kues, lies on the Moselle, and includes the local parts of Brauneberg, Filzen and Hirzlei. It is situated at 124 metres above sea level and extends over 12.22 square kilometres. The region is the Moselle.
Steep slopes and vineyards
The Brauneberger Juffer lies on the steep slope opposite the village and has a gradient of up to 87 per cent. The south-facing area Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr comprises about 10.5 hectares and lies on Devonian slate soils. The named vineyard sites also include Klostergarten and Mandelgraben. After land consolidation, the Juffer comprises about 42.7 hectares, the Klostergarten about 95 hectares and the Mandelgraben about 175 hectares.
Viticulture
The steep slopes are harvested by hand. For certain work, rope-pulling systems or special tracked vehicles are used; the vines are traditionally trained on Moselle stakes. In the steep sites Klostergarten and Mandelgraben, Riesling is planted; in flatter and less steep plots, Müller-Thurgau, Kerner and red grape varieties are also planted. The municipality describes the wines in the German quality classification from Kabinett to Beerenauslese.
History and designation of origin
Viticulture in Brauneberg is traced back to Roman times. At the foot of the slope of Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr there is a Roman winery complex built in the 2nd century, which was uncovered in 1990 during land consolidation work. The place is first documented in 588 under the name Dusemond; this name remained in use until 1925. Brauneberg and the local part of Filzen belong to the demarcated geographical area of the protected designation of origin Mosel and the protected geographical indication Landwein der Mosel.
