Location and Classification
Kirchberg is a single-vineyard wine site (Einzellage) in the municipal and cadastral district of Veldenz in the wine-growing region Mosel. It belongs to the Bernkastel district and to the Großlage Kurfürstlay. The official directory of wine sites lists Veldenzer Kirchberg under number 410335, with 63.6 hectares of planted vineyard area for the harvest 2024. The site is registered as a single-vineyard site within the protected Mosel wine-growing area.
Topography and Soil
The vineyard lies behind the Catholic church that gives it its name, on a slope oriented from south to south-west. It extends in a side valley of the Middle Mosel and is described as a steep slope site (Steillage). The south-western exposure provides the vines with favourable sunshine. The site is characterised by slate; old vineyard plantings stand on Devonian slate.
Vines and Cultivation
In Veldenzer Kirchberg, Riesling, Müller-Thurgau, Kerner, White Burgundy (Weißburgunder), Dornfelder and Frühburgunder are documented. Müller-Thurgau and Kerner have been grown there since the 1970s, and Weißburgunder for more than ten years at the time of the respective publication. In the old vineyard plantings of Martin Conrad, there are vines that are older than 70 years. For his parcels, he describes selective hand harvesting and a reduction in yield that begins already during pruning; the yields of the corresponding site wines are limited to at most 65 hectolitres per hectare. His vineyards have been farmed organically since 2019, and the wines are fermented spontaneously with natural yeasts.
Documented Styles of Wine
From Veldenzer Kirchberg, dry, finely off-dry and sweet Rieslings are documented, as well as ice wine (Eiswein), Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese. Further designations include dry Riesling as Alte Reben and Riesling Spätlese.
