Schleich

Schleich is a local municipality in the Trier-Saarburg district in Rhineland-Palatinate and belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Schweich in the Roman Wine Route. The village is situated on the left bank of the Moselle in the natural landscape of the Neumagen Moselle meanders, and thus in the Moselle.

The settlement extends along the lower Moselle terrace on a steep bank. In the built-up area, elevations lie at around between 120 metres by the river and 130 metres on the B 53; the surrounding slopes reach roughly 300 metres. Distinctive meanders, erosion and deposition slopes, and locally steeply falling slate shape the surroundings.

Within the Verbandsgemeinde, the Moselle valley near Schleich is regarded as the warmest and driest area. Annual rainfall is below 700 millimetres, the average January temperature is 0 to 1 °C and the average July temperature is about 17 °C. Fog occurs frequently in the valley floor, while slopes exposed to the south-east are thermally favoured and used preferentially for winegrowing.

The terraces consist of several metres of gravel and sand deposits; on the lower terrace, heavy, dark soils are found. The vineyard soils are characterised by intensively managed, humus-poor and stony Rigosols. The Schlicher wine-growing sites are the Sonnenberg and the Klosterberg.

The vines include, among others, Riesling, Rivaner, Spätburgunder, Weißburgunder, Grauburgunder and Ortega, with Riesling forming the main focus. Documented wines from the Schleicher Sonnenberg include sweet Rieslings, including a Kabinett, as well as dry Spätburgunder. Around 70 per cent of the wines from a Schlicher holding are made dry; in suitable years, Trockenbeerenauslese and ice wine are also produced.

A document from the year 976 mentions the village “Sleche” and records its donation by the Archbishop of Trier, Theoderich, to the Trier monastery of St. Mariae. The area had already been settled in Roman times; in 1976, Schleich marked the thousandth anniversary since its founding.