page_title: Lower Moselle
section_title: Shape and significance of vineyard terraces
hierarchical_section_title: Lower Moselle / Development of terracing on the Lower Moselle / Shape and significance of vineyard terraces
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Alte Steillage, aus den Felsen geschlagen und terrassiert. Niederfell, Einzellage Grub in den Niederfeller Fächern
context_page_description: The Lower Moselle is the name given to the lower reaches of the Moselle river - just under 100 kilometres long - in Germany between Pünderich and the Moselle's confluence with the Rhine at Koblenz. The Lower Moselle landscape differs from that of the Middle and Upper Moselle, much of it forming a narrower valley with high and steep sides in places. On the cut banks of the river that are oriented towards the south and west, vineyards are managed, often on the tiniest, terraced strips of land on steep hillslopes.
  The upgrading of the Moselle into a waterway for big ships in the 1960s has permanently changed the appearance of the river and its banks. Five changes of level between Koblenz and Zell in order to build locks for large ships have changed a riverbed that was narrow in places and wide in others with gently sloping banks into a canal-like waterway that is contained by artificial walls and rock embankments in the areas of the locks.
context_section_description: The advantages of slope terracing to increase the area available for cultivation were mentioned in ancient Roman agricultural instruction books (e.g. Junius Moderatus Columella around 60 AD in De re rustica).
  A description of terrace building on the Moselle has been handed down by a Baden oenologist from the 19th century, describing a technique that was probably used even in Roman times: "Because all hillsides are rocky by nature and there is little space for building in the open areas between the rocks, the whole terrace has to be dug out to the specified depth. To do this, rocks are broken off and split; those pieces that are not left to weather and break up in the open air, become stones used for the terraces (Figs. 18 and 19). Thus one terrace is formed around another until the entire plot is created." 
  High terrace walls are often mortared for better stability. Today, new walls are built for landscape conservation reasons of stone from local quarries. Wall depths and foundations are based on the planned height. Walls two metres high are - if not on bedrock - built on very large stones, or on a concrete foundation of 100 cm × 60  cm depth and height. An uphill oriented gradient to help stabilise the wall can be achieved by angled construction, or the stacking of stones that are repeatedly set back from the bottom upwards. The stones are set alternately 2 to 1 and 1 to 2 and each lies on at least 3 points of its surface. For one cubic metre of wall around two tons of stone has to be used.
  The terraces are, in addition to their agricultural engineering significance, examples of great cultural historical value, their organisation and often masterful architecture witnessing as far back as the Middle Ages. The small scale structure of the plots forms protective barriers against plant disease and provides habitats for a variety of warmth-loving flora and fauna. The Apollo butterfly, the green lizard, the wallflower and rock bunting are only the best known representatives of the ecosystem of the Terraced Moselle that have been recorded in the case studies of small animals and plants of the region.
caption: 18. Old terraced vineyard Fächern in Niederfell, formerly called Grub.
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