Luxembourg wine: the Moselle, crémant and where to buy

Luxembourg makes wine, does it well, and sells almost all of it domestically, which is why nobody outside the country has heard of it. The vineyards run along the left bank of the Moselle for roughly forty kilometres from Schengen to Wasserbillig, planted mainly with white varieties, and the crémant made here is the single best value on any Luxembourg wine list. Learning to order it is one of the more immediately rewarding things a new resident can do.

The region

The Luxembourg Moselle is a narrow strip of vineyard on steep south and south-east facing slopes above the river, running from Schengen in the south through Remerschen, Remich, Wormeldange, Ahn, Machtum and Grevenmacher to Wasserbillig.

The soils are principally limestone and marl, the climate is cool, and the wines are correspondingly high in acidity, low in alcohol by international standards and built for food. It is a northern wine region and it makes northern wines.

The grapes

• Riesling, the region's most serious variety, at its best on the limestone slopes around Wormeldange and Ahn. Dry, taut and long-lived.
• Pinot Gris, richer and rounder, and the variety that most often surprises visitors.
• Auxerrois, a Luxembourg speciality, soft and low in acid, widely planted and frequently the everyday white.
• Pinot Blanc, clean and versatile, and much used in crémant.
• Rivaner, the local name for Müller-Thurgau, historically dominant and now declining, light and simple.
• Elbling, an ancient variety grown almost nowhere else, sharp and low in alcohol, used for everyday wine and for sparkling.
• Pinot Noir, the principal red, light in style, and increasingly serious as the climate warms.
• Gewürztraminer, aromatic and grown in small quantities.

Crémant de Luxembourg

This is the thing to know. Crémant de Luxembourg is a protected designation, made by the traditional method with a second fermentation in bottle, exactly as champagne is, and subject to defined rules on yields and ageing.

• The quality is high and the price is not. A good crémant costs a fraction of a comparable champagne and outperforms most prosecco by a distance.
• It is the default celebratory wine in Luxembourg, served at everything from a communal reception to a wedding.
• Look for the vintage and the dosage. Brut is standard; extra brut is drier and increasingly common.
• Rosé crémant, from Pinot Noir, is widely made and good.

If you take one thing from this article, it is to stop buying prosecco. The domestic alternative is better and costs about the same.

Where to buy

• Directly from the producers along the river, which is the cheapest route and the most enjoyable. Most have a tasting room and sell by the case.
• The cooperative, Domaines Vinsmoselle, which vinifies a large share of the national crop and has outlets along the Moselle.
• Established houses including Bernard-Massard at Grevenmacher and Caves St Martin at Remich, both of which run cellar visits.
• Independent estates, of which there are a growing number working at a high level, particularly around Wormeldange and Ahn.
• Supermarkets carry a reasonable domestic range at reasonable prices, which is unusual and useful.
• Wine merchants in the capital, for the smaller estates that do not reach the supermarkets.

A day on the river

• Drive or take the bus along the river road from Schengen to Grevenmacher, stopping where you like. Public transport is free within Luxembourg, which solves the driver problem.
• Book tastings at the smaller estates; the larger houses take walk-ins.
• Eat river fish at a riverside restaurant with a bottle of Riesling.
• The boat runs between the wine villages in season and is a pleasant way to cover part of the route.
• Autumn is harvest and the wine festivals, which is the best time to go and the busiest.
• Schengen at the southern end has the European museum, which makes a good non-wine stop.

Ordering it in a restaurant

• Luxembourg lists are dominated by France, and the domestic section is frequently short and at the front.
• The house white by the glass is very often an Auxerrois or Rivaner and is usually good value.
• With river fish, asparagus or charcuterie, a Luxembourg Riesling or Pinot Gris is the correct answer and generally the cheapest good one on the list.
• Crémant as an aperitif is the local convention and nobody will think you are economising.
• Ask the sommelier for a domestic wine in a good restaurant. The answer is frequently the most interesting thing on the list.

Storing and serving it

Luxembourg whites reward a little care, and most of what goes wrong is temperature rather than the bottle.

• Serve whites cooler than you think but not ice cold. A good Riesling at fridge temperature loses most of its aroma; twenty minutes out of the fridge transforms it.
• Crémant should be properly cold, and an ice bucket with water as well as ice chills far faster than a freezer.
• The better Rieslings age. A good bottle from a named estate will improve for five to ten years, which is unusual value at Luxembourg prices.
• Store bottles on their side, away from light and temperature swings. A cellar is ideal, which is one more argument for an apartment that has one.
• Buy by the case at the estate. Producers sell at cellar prices and it is materially cheaper than retail.

A cellar is a genuine feature in a Luxembourg apartment, and it costs a fraction of the equivalent volume upstairs. For anyone who buys wine seriously, it belongs on the list of things to ask about at a viewing.

Three questions we are asked

Is Luxembourg wine actually good?

The best of it is very good, particularly Riesling and Pinot Gris from the limestone slopes, and the crémant is excellent across the board. The everyday Rivaner is unremarkable, which is true of everyday wine everywhere.

Why is it not exported?

The region is small, production is limited and the domestic market absorbs almost all of it at good prices. There is little commercial reason to export, which is why nobody outside the Greater Region has heard of it.

What should I buy for a dinner party?

A vintage crémant to start, a Riesling or Pinot Gris from a named estate for the meal, and a Pinot Noir if you want a domestic red. The whole thing will cost less than a single decent bottle of Burgundy and will surprise your guests, which is the point.

Why this matters when you are choosing where to live

The Moselle is twenty minutes from most addresses on the eastern side of the capital and forty from the western ones. It is one of the arguments for Cents, Neudorf and the eastern communes that never appears in a listing.

Every strong property choice contains a trade-off, and where to buy is no exception. For the question raised by “Where to buy”, the useful detail is not a generic list of advantages.

For the question raised by “Where to buy”, the useful detail is not a generic list of advantages.

One of the easiest mistakes around a day on the river is judging the visible result while ignoring the process that produces it. For the question raised by “A day on the river”, the useful detail is not a generic list of advantages. Then ask what happens when one assumption fails.

For storing and serving it, note what you can see, what you can measure, what you need to ask and what would be expensive to change. For the question raised by “A day on the river”, the useful detail is not a generic list of advantages.

A stronger reading of crémant de luxembourg starts by asking what would change for the resident on an ordinary weekday.