Location and landscape
Wawern is a wine-growing municipality in the Trier-Saarburg district in Rhineland-Palatinate and part of the Mosel. The village lies in a valley that opens to the west towards the Nitteler Wald, and near the Saar. The lower-lying area is in the former floodplain of an ancient Saar course that silted up about 10,000 years ago.
Climate and geology
The Wawern wine-growing region is described by the municipality as the area with the longest duration of sunshine along the Saar. At the Jesuitenberg, the recorded annual precipitation is about 600 to 800 millimetres. In the Wawern valley, the Buntsandstein cover passes into Devonian Hunsrück slate that is exposed in the open; beneath the area there are two geological faults. Saar deposits cover the lower-lying formations with 15 to 25 metres of thick river sediments.
Vineyard sites and winegrowing
The vineyards rise immediately behind Wawern and extend towards the Hardtwald. Among the named sites are Goldberg, Herrenberg, Jesuitenberg and Ritterpfad. The Goldberg lies at about 170 to 263 metres above sea level, is oriented from south to south-west and has a slope inclination of 30 to 60 per cent. The Herrenberg is located in a side valley above Wawern and is predominantly oriented to the south.
The south-facing Jesuitenberg has a slope inclination of about 45 per cent. Its iron-bearing clay slate and quartzite warm up strongly in sunshine; at the Goldberg, a stonier grey slate with mica content has been documented. Riesling is the most important grape variety associated with Wawern’s slate soils. From Wawern, Rieslings of the categories Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese from Goldberg, Herrenberg and Ritterpfad have been documented.
Historical background
Up to the beginning of the French Revolution, Wawern belonged to the Electorate of Trier and to the office (Amt) of Saarburg. The cathedral chapter of Trier owned a share of lower jurisdiction and, according to the municipality’s historical account, received half of the local wine tithe.
