In the current issue of The Art of Eating (no. 84 “The State of Pork”), Dan Melia was asked to write a short piece on Ulli Stein’s manifesto, which he had translated (with the assistance of the wine critic David Schildknecht) and posted on our blog early this year.

Since publishing the plea, Ulli has since been able to save old Riesling vines from being cut down by retiring grape-growers in his village of St. Aldegund, namely in the site called Himmelreich. Various producers along the Mosel and local press have taken notice. Even the well-known British wine author Jancis Robinson asked to republish Dan’s translation on her website. All of this has been good to see, even if much more needs to be done to save precious old vines in steep slate sites from thorny shrubs, such as the blackberry.

Yesterday, Jancis Robinson reported on her website that the Mosel bridge protest has moved to Berlin. She was joined by fellow British wine writer Hugh Johnson and a couple well-known producers from the Mosel wine region, including Katharina Prüm of Joh. Jos. Prüm, as well as other protesters and Green Party members.

For some additional news and background information on this controversial project to build a massive four-lane highway bridge spanning the heart of the Mosel Valley between Zeltingen and Ürzig, see article. Even Eric Asimov, wine critic for the The New York Times, wrote a post last month covering his dismay over the long-lasting plans to build this bridge.

It’s possible to write Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel your concerns (now in English) about it. If you know German, the Deutscher Bundestag website has an on-line petition to protest the building of the bridge. It just requires registering and signing and only takes a few minutes.