German history: Recovery and improvement, 1650–1800

The recovery of German viticulture after the depredations of the Thirty Years War was slow and painful. Only franken (Franconia), which had been the scene of fierce fighting in the 1630s, experienced a swift recuperation in vineyards and wine prices in the 1650s. In the palatinate, viticulture was not fully restored until the 1710s. There many growers, despairing of making a decent living, emigrated to America in the early 18th century. The region was further afflicted by the wars of Louis XIV of France from 1674 to 1700, as indeed were districts on the left bank of the Rhine as a whole, including the mosel.