MOSEY ON DOWN THE MOSEL

My husband and I have birthdays five days apart in August, and we usually celebrate them as a birthday week. This year we decided on Zell an der Mosel, a town on the Mosel River in an area of western Germany renowned for its Rieslings.

We thought a combination of wine tastings, vineyard walks, and visits to towns along the banks of the Mosel would be fun. We were right.

My husband chose Zell as our base for nostalgic reasons. The first wine he bought as soon as he could pass for 21 was Zeller Schwarze Katz, perhaps a step up (or down) from Liebfraumilch and Mateus, but definitely superior to the Colt 45 tall boys he sneaked behind the bleachers in high school.

The Mosel originates in France, where it is called the Moselle, and runs north to Koblenz in Germany, where it joins the Rhine. The river is tortuous, languorous, and absolutely lovely. Just observing it was deeply, deeply relaxing.

Another reason my husband chose Zell, as opposed to one of many other charming towns along the banks, is because Zell is situated on one of the narrowest bends of the many, many bends in this river.

Our Airbnb was on a hill overlooking Zell, and this is the view of the town we enjoyed from our balcony across the river.

The day after we arrived, we took the first of several long walks. This one ran through vineyards, woods, a grotto dedicated to the Virgin Mary, deep into a granite gorge, and along a rushing stream. The path was bordered by blackberries, wildflowers, ferns, and shamrocks.

And of course, being Germany, there was kitsch.

When we exited the trail near town, it started to rain. Determined to make lemonade out of lemons, or in this case wine out of grapes, we decided to do some more wine tasting and buying at Bremm in town.

We also tasted and bought wine and brut at Koll in Cochem.

We tasted, but did not buy, wine in Bernkastel-Kues.

And we tasted and bought wine at Clemens-Busch in Pünderich, whose vineyards are across the river and planted in red, blue, and gray slate soils. Very cute little town with half-timbered buildings and a grassy riverfront where the locals were setting up a carnival for their annual wine festival.

We had two memorable birthday meals. Birthday dinner for my husband in Traben-Trarbach at the Hotel Belle Epoque

and a birthday lunch for me on the terrace of the Hotel Merscheim in Reil.

From amuse bouche to dessert, it was splendid!

That same evening, we returned to Pünderich for the wine festival and a fireworks display reflected in the Mosel's placid waters.

"Auf Wiedersehen, Zeller Schwartze Katz!" We'll be back.

Keep it real!

Marilyn

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