The Mosel contains the greatest number of superstar winemakers and extraordinary vineyards sites, not just in Germany, but maybe anywhere in the world. The snaking procession of vineyards are perched along the Mosel river, 142 miles long, which twists back upon itself so many times, it fits into a 80-mile long stretch of land.

This is where Riesling reaches its apogee. Here, a spectral rainbow of flavors and divergent structural expectations combine to produce wines of wonder. Every style of white wine is made, from the most filigreed dry, to unctuously sweet, from skin contact to bubbles, and everything in between, sometimes all from the same vineyard in the same year and by the same producer. With this one terroir-transparent grape for a lens, we are left with a dizzying matrix of factors affecting the finished wine in every bottle.

One might expect with such quality wines available, coupled with prohibitively-expensive hand-worked vineyards, that the wines would fetch astronomical prices. Instead, with few expectations, there are deals to be found in nearly every cellar.