Luxembourg: Geography and climate

Luxembourg’s vineyards are in two of the Grand Duchy’s eastern cantons, Remich and Grevenmacher. On the alluvial plain of Remich, the heavier soils tend to produce less aromatic, heavier, earlier-maturing wines from such villages as Remich, Wintrange, and Schengen. Parts of the narrower valley of Grevenmacher to the north have been reshaped by terracing, as in the Mosel across the German border, but yields are lower, calcareous soils predominate, and wines such as the village of Ahn’s fine Rieslings are particularly slow maturing. Luxembourg suffers a wide range of cool-climate-related problems such as spring frosts, hail, and coulure, so that yields can vary substantially.