Location and village appearance
Kesten is a winegrowing village on the Moselle in the Middle Moselle region and belongs to the Bernkastel-Kues collective municipality. The historic settlement is shaped by the Moselle and steep vineyard slopes. The municipal area is described as being determined by a mild Moselle climate.
Vineyard sites
The Kesten Paulinsberg comprises about 40 hectares and has both gently sloping and extremely steep slopes. The Kesten Herrenberg, which covers around 70 hectares, received its name due to the earlier ownership by churches, monasteries, collegiate foundations and abbeys. The Kesten Paulinshofberg is a very steep site oriented south-south-east; the classified area is given as 7.27 hectares and an altitude of 119 to 208 metres above sea level.
Soils and wine style
The slopes of the Middle Moselle consist mainly of slate weathering material. At Paulinsberg there is fine slate weathering soil, while the Paulinshofberg is characterised by blue slate and weathered clay slate with clay components. For Paulinsberg and the classified Paulinshofberg, Riesling is documented; for the Herrenberg, a Riesling Kabinett is recorded. Depending on the site, the wines are described as either spicy and crisp in acidity, juicy and floral, or piquant, mineral and finely savoury.
History and wine law
The municipality describes Kesten as a 1,000-year-old wine village. The name is derived from the Moselle region expression “Kesten” for sweet chestnuts; according to the municipality’s information, the Romans planted a chestnut forest there. There are also historical connections to the Abbey of Himmerod and to the collegiate foundation St. Paulin in Trier. Kesten lies within the legally delimited geographical area of the protected designation of origin “Mosel”.
