The Moselle Valley is the sweetest, sunniest side of Luxembourg: 42 kilometres of terraced vineyards climbing the slopes along the Moselle river, which here forms the border with Germany. It is the country's wine region, a land of fresh white wines —Riesling, Pinot Gris, Auxerrois, Elbling— and, above all, of crémant, the Luxembourg sparkling wine that rivals the best in Europe. A landscape of winegrowing villages, century-old wineries, underground cellars and terraces by the water.
Wine has been made here for two thousand years: the Romans were already planting vines on these slopes, as the archaeological sites in the area show. Today the Route du Vin (the wine road) runs through the valley from Schengen to Wasserbillig, passing through the wine capital, Grevenmacher, and charming villages such as Wormeldange, Ehnen and Remich, the 'pearl of the Moselle'. At its wineries you can visit the cellars, learn how crémant is made and taste the wines with views of the river.
This guide explores the Moselle Valley with a practical eye: the must-see winegrowing villages, the best crémant wineries to visit (Caves St Martin in Remich, Bernard-Massard in Grevenmacher, Poll-Fabaire in Wormeldange), river cruises, historic Schengen and its European Museum, and how to get there (by bus, for free) and get around. A getaway of wine, landscapes and European history, less than an hour from the capital.
The Luxembourg Moselle Valley has been wine country since ancient times: the Celts and Gauls were already growing vines on these slopes, and the Romans, who had the great city of Augusta Treverorum (Trier) nearby, expanded and refined the vineyards, as sites such as Potaschberg show. During the Middle Ages, the monasteries kept winegrowing alive. The region went through a major transformation in the 20th century: in 1921 the economic union with Belgium changed its markets, and in 1935 the 'Marque Nationale' was created to guarantee the quality of Luxembourg wine. Crémant, the country's sparkling wine made by the traditional method, gained its protected designation in 1991. And in 1985, in the Moselle village of Schengen, the agreement that abolished internal borders across much of Europe was signed. We tell the whole story on our history page.
Read the full history ↓The wine-growing southeast along the Moselle, with its vineyards, crémant and the village of Schengen, where the agreement for a Europe without borders was signed in 1985, and the iron and steel south, with the Terres Rouges of Esch-sur-Alzette and the Belval blast furnaces turned into a university.
Read the history of Moselle Valley and the South →A local guide tells you in half an hour what no sign at the site will ever explain. We look ours up on Civitatis: guided in Spanish and booked online with no fuss. They have 9 activities in Valle Del Mosela. And there are free tours here: you book without paying and tip the guide whatever you think at the end, so trying one costs you nothing. Have a look below: tap any of them to see them all.
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Origins, formation and what the sources say.
The Luxembourg Moselle Valley is one of the oldest wine regions in Europe. Long before Luxembourg existed as a country, vines were already being grown on these slopes. The Celts and Gauls who lived in the region knew about wine, but it was the Romans who turned the Moselle into true wine country. A few kilometres away, in what is now Germany, stood Augusta Treverorum (modern-day Trier), one of the great cities of the Empire in northern Europe and a regional capital with a huge demand for wine.
The Romans planted vineyards on the valley's sunny slopes, built country villas devoted to farming and refined the techniques of growing and making wine. Archaeological sites such as Potaschberg, near Grevenmacher, bear witness to this Roman winegrowing. The climate, with warm summers and sun-facing slopes along the river, proved ideal for vines, especially the white varieties that still dominate the region today.
When the Roman Empire collapsed, winegrowing did not disappear. Wine tradition on the Moselle was by then so well established that it survived the invasions and the Dark Ages, handed down from generation to generation in the riverside villages. Wine had been part of the valley's identity since time immemorial.
During the Middle Ages, the great guardians of winegrowing were the monasteries. At a time when wine was essential both for the liturgy and for everyday life, the abbeys of the region (including the powerful ones in Trier and the abbey of Echternach, not far away) owned vineyards on the Moselle and perfected their cultivation. The monks chose the best slopes, improved the vines and spread winegrowing know-how.
The Moselle was also a major route for trade and travel. The river made it possible to carry wine by barge to markets in the valley's towns and further afield, towards the Rhine and northern Europe. Winegrowing villages grew up along the banks, each with its vineyards on the slopes and its cellars by the water. Grevenmacher, Remich, Wormeldange and others gradually became established as wine centres.
This landscape of terraced vineyards, riverside villages and river traffic lasted for centuries, with ups and downs caused by wars and epidemics. Moselle wine was mostly white, fresh and light, suited to the northern climate and very different from the reds of southern Europe. That character (white wines and, later, sparkling wines) still defines the region today.
Luxembourg's Moselle wine went through a profound transformation in the 20th century. For a long time, much of the production had been simple wines made from the Elbling grape, largely exported in bulk to Germany. But the situation changed abruptly after the First World War: in 1921, Luxembourg signed an economic union with Belgium (the BLEU), which redirected its markets and forced the sector to rethink itself.
The big step towards quality came in 1935 with the creation of the 'Marque Nationale du Vin luxembourgeois', an official seal of control and quality guarantee for the country's wines. From then on, Moselle winegrowing focused on nobler varieties (Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Auxerrois, Gewürztraminer) and on more careful cultivation, leaving cheap mass production behind. Winegrowers' cooperatives were set up to bring small producers together and modernise winemaking.
At the same time, sparkling wine production flourished. As early as 1921, the Bernard-Massard house had been founded in Grevenmacher, specialising in sparkling wines made by the traditional method, and it would go on to become the country's largest producer. Moselle wine was no longer an anonymous product: it was gaining a name, prestige and an identity of its own.
Two milestones, one in winemaking and one in politics, marked the Luxembourg Moselle at the end of the 20th century. The first was the official birth of crémant. In 1991 the protected designation 'Crémant de Luxembourg' was created, reserved for sparkling wines made by the traditional method (second fermentation in the bottle) under strict quality criteria. Crémant became the great ambassador of Luxembourg wine, able to compete with the best sparkling wines in Europe, and today it is made at iconic wineries such as Bernard-Massard, Caves St Martin in Remich and Poll-Fabaire in Wormeldange, the latter housed in an Art Deco building from the late 1920s.
The second milestone came on 14 June 1985 at the southern tip of the valley, in the small winegrowing village of Schengen. There, where the borders of Luxembourg, France and Germany meet, and very symbolically aboard the boat Princesse Marie-Astrid moored on the Moselle, representatives of five countries signed the Schengen Agreement. That document laid the foundations for gradually abolishing checks at internal borders and creating the area of free movement of people that defines much of the European Union today.
It is no coincidence that an agreement of such scope bears the name of a tiny vineyard village: it was chosen precisely because of its location at the point where three countries meet, a place where borders were part of everyday life. The Moselle, the border river par excellence, thus became a symbol of a Europe without barriers.
Today, the Moselle Valley is one of the most pleasant regions of Luxembourg, and one with a strong identity of its own. Along its 42 kilometres, from Schengen to Wasserbillig, terraced vineyards, winegrowing villages, wineries and underground cellars follow one after another. The Route du Vin (the wine road) links the towns, and a cycle path along the river lets you ride the length of the valley with hardly any climbing, between the vines and with the German bank always in view.
Wine tourism has grown strongly: winery visits, tastings of Riesling, Pinot Gris and crémant, the Wine Museum in Ehnen, river cruises, harvest festivals and the big wine festival in Grevenmacher, the wine capital. The valley combines the pleasure of wine with a gentle, luminous landscape, very different from the forests and castles of the country's north.
And in Schengen, the European Museum keeps alive the memory of the agreement that changed the way we travel around Europe, with monuments that include pieces of the Berlin Wall and the 'columns of the nations'. In this way, this small border valley sums up two of Luxembourg's great contributions: a quality wine with two thousand years of history, and a decisive role in building a united Europe without internal borders. From Roman vineyards to the Schengen Area, the Moselle is much more than a river: it is a border that has become a bridge.
