This
may not be the finest piece of writing on my blog, primarily because I haven't
written most of it, but even voices as eloquent as those of Jancis Robinson MW
and Hugh Johnson OBE barely begin to convey the concentration of narrow minded, short
sighted and thoughtless decision making involved in the €270
million folly that is the Hochmoselübergang (Upper Mosel Crossing).
The
concept of forcing a highway, a tunnel and a 1.7km, 160m high bridge through
what are unquestionably the world’s finest Riesling vineyards is surely the
apogee of cultural vandalism. There would be an international outcry if a
similar road building project were suggested to cross the Gironde and plough
right through Pauillac, but, because the enjoyment of German Riesling tends to be the preserve of
the wine enthusiast, its imminent plight has barely raised a murmur in the media.
I’ve
been following this saga for the last couple of years, feeling ever more
impotent and angry as time has progressed. Setting aside selfish motives to
protect what are amongst my favourite vineyards anywhere, I cannot comprehend
how such environmental brutality can be imposed upon so fragile and unique an
ecosystem that has been carefully tended and nurtured for well over one
thousand years.
My
apologies, but rather than rehash the work of others, I’m going to provide
links to concise and well-written pieces from other authors and wine makers listed chronologically.
The
background:
From
Jancis Robinson:
http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/a20090510.html
http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/a20090510.html
From
Rebecca Gibb:
From
Ernst Loosen:
From
Hugh Johnson:
A
stirringly poignant criticism of the project in a speech given by Hugh Johnson:
http://www.decanter.com/specials/483909/hugh-johnson-s-speech-at-the-mosel-bridge-protest
It can also be watched here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UaeCYEm7-4
It can also be watched here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UaeCYEm7-4
From the highly informative website of the Pro-Mosel Action Group (http://www.b50neu.de/e/index.html), this
webpage displays series of pictures showing the affected areas before and after
the construction of the bridge, just roll your cursor over the arrows below
each image:
http://b50neu.de/vornach.html
 |
| A map showing the route of the B50 Neu road and bridge, showing the vineyards which will be affected by the pollution and by the inevitable, irreversible damage to their hydrology and geology. |
From the articles listed below, you can clearly see the on again, off again nature of the project over the last two years (with thanks to www.decanter.com, Jancis Robinson and Sarah Washington):
And
then came the news of the last few days:
As
I wrote in my recent post (Prüm And
Proper), wines from this exact area are some of the finest produced
anywhere; this latest news makes my heart feel leaden and makes my stomach
churn. I really wish I knew of some meaningful action to take to counter this shameful violation of winemaking history.