Location and landscape
Niedermoschel is a municipality in the Alsenz valley in the Northern Palatinate Uplands, which belong to the Saar-Nahe Uplands in Rhineland-Palatinate. The town is assigned to the wine-growing region Nahe. A surveyed site on the Welsch side south of Niedermoschel lies at about 164 to 167 metres above sea level and rises towards the south-west.
Geological subsoil
The local subsoil belongs to the Rotliegend. It includes sandstones, arkoses, conglomerates, siltstones and claystones, as well as local limestone layers and coal seams. In volcanic vents, pyroclastic breccias may occur.
Viticulture
Niedermoschel lies in the Nahe valley area and in the great location Paradiesgarten. The single-vineyard Geißenkopf extends over the cadastral areas of Niedermoschel and Obermoschel; within the municipal area of Niedermoschel, 2.5 hectares are recorded. The Silberberg is also a single-vineyard spanning more than one municipality; of this, 1.8 hectares are in Niedermoschel. In addition to these, the following vineyard names are recorded in Niedermoschel: Hahnhölle and Layenberg.
History and mining
Niedermoschel probably originated in the eighth century. The place is documented in 1362 as “Nieder Moscheln”, with a church at the site already existing since 1353. The nearby Löwenstein castle was built around 1180, was damaged during the Peasants’ War in 1525, and was finally destroyed in 1689 in the Palatine War of Succession. Mining shaped the history of the town: near here, silver extraction began in 1429, and in the 18th century mercury mining became an important source of income.
