As a follow-up to our post in April, please click here for more information on Pro Mosel, a citizen’s initiative against the controversial project B50/High Mosel Bridge, which had been previously shelved for years, but is now under construction. Various wine writers (Hugh Johnson, Jancis Robinson, and Stuart Pigott) have protested against the decision to build the massive highway bridge, and several celebrated Middle Mosel wine estates (like Dr. Loosen, Joh. Jos. Prüm, or Willi Schaefer) have spoken out against it, too.

The aforementioned estates all have vines in the area where the bridge would be built high above the Mosel River. Curiously, the developers chose a rather wide point in the valley to do this. And it should be noted that it wouldn’t span directly over the famous hillside vineyards of Zeltingen, Wehlen, Graach, or Bernkastel, as some report, but rather run parallel on the plateau above. (See maps on Pro Mosel’s website.) This entails cutting down some of the forest that supplies the vineyards water and would ruin a pristine area for hiking between Traben-Trarbach and Bernkastel-Kues.

Various critics, insiders, and winegrowers feel, however, that the recent press and demonstrations have come much too late and only bring negative publicity to the entire region and its wines. Although many of us are against the building of this monstrous and costly bridge—an eyesore for the heart of the Middle Mosel, between Ürzig and Zeltingen—it remains to be seen what can be done to stop it, besides signing the petition. Moreover, previous protests (going back ten or more years) failed and had little support, as the Rhineland-Palatinate and local governments, in addition to the courts, have favored (and upheld) the project. One keen observer said that the initiative lacks an organizer who has the political prowess and can draw in and rally the locals and the less well-known vintners.

What also seems to be lost by the press or even the famous wine growers’ association, the VDP, is the much bigger crisis that’s affecting all the Mosel region, namely the loss of viticulture on the Mosel’s steep slate slopes.

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.