A great old Germanic wine grape with a long history traceable to imperial Roman times, it was Germany's most cultivated variety until the early 20th century. Today its range is limited to the cool, steep banks of the Obermosel (southern Mosel) river valley and neighboring Luxembourg—where the Mosel discreetly becomes the Moselle.
The Obermosel is the southernmost part of the Mosel river, south of the Saar near the border of Luxembourg. Here, Michael Fürst operates his small family winery, and focuses on growing and vinifying wine from the historic Elbling grape, a great old Germanic variety once planted more widely than Riesling in Germany. Today its range is limited to the cool, steep banks of the Obermosel river valley and neighboring Luxembourg. The Fürst family has grown grapes and other crops at their estate in the Sauer Valley since the 13th century, and Michael is the third generation to make wine under the family name. He tends 12 hectares of Elbling, 70% of which are old vines, 25% between 10-20 years old, and 5% young. His total Elbling production is under 10,000 cases and the quality is high, vintage after vintage. We are very proud to represent one of the few small family wineries still working with this fascinating grape variety.
