Guide : Nahe | Buy Wines, Spirits, Liqueurs from Weavers of Nottingham

Nahe

A neighbour of the famous Rheingau and Mosel-Saar-Ruwer wine regions, the Nahe has suffered from a lack of identity of its own. This is largely owing to the vast number of styles that the region produces and its lack of a dominant standard bearer. But in many ways the Nahe is a wine lover's dream, with modest prices for the quality on offer and the variety to ensure that the nose and the tastebuds are never turned off.

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Styles of Wine

Varied is the key word here. Riesling, as usual in Germany, is regarded as producing the best wines in the region and often achieves a high level of acidity that creates structure and ageing potential. The recent trend has been towards a drier style for the quality wines. Sekt, the German sparkling wine, is also produced in the Nahe. A curiosity of the region, practised on a small scale, is the growing of a wide variety of vines in a single vineyard that are then harvested together and blended haphazardly. These wines have no pretensions to high quality, but they do represent an engaging link to the past.

Key Vines

Riesling, Silvaner and Müller-Thurgau, the grape created by crossing the first two, dominate the vineyards of the Nahe. Spätburgunder, the German name for Pinot Noir, makes up most of the minority red plantings.

Climate and Conditions

Soil is the key to the wines of the Nahe. It is extremely varied and, as it is a fundamental factor in the wine produced, this has denied the region a particular style with which to become identified. The sandstone of the upper Nahe will produce very different wines from the slate lower down the river, and the loam near the confluence with the Rhine is considered too fertile to draw the best from the grapes.