Luxembourg (officially the "Grand Duchy of Luxembourg") is a landlocked country at the junction of Belgium, Germany and France. It is a small country compared to its neighbours, stretching 80 km from North to South and 50 km from west to east, covering just over 2,500 square kilometres. Only 1% of this area is devoted to wine growing.
Located in the north of Western Europe, it is one of the coolest wine regions in the world.
In the north of the country, the Ardennes hills and forests dominate the topography. Forest accounts for a third of the country's land and the north is sparsely populated.
The vast majority of Luxembourg's 620,000 inhabitants live in the southern half of the country.
Wine production in Luxembourg has been in Slight decline since the late 1990s, with annual production currently at around 80,000 hectoliters (8 million liters or 2.
1 million U. S. gallons).
Viticulture is centered in the southeastern Part of Luxembourg, where the Mosel River (known as the Moselle) forms the national border with Germany.
Pinot Gris is a grey grape variety mutated from Pinot Noir. It has its origins in Burgundy, where it is called pinot-beurot in reference to the colour of the grey robes worn by the monks of the region. Established in Alsace since the 17th century, pinot gris was called tokay until 2007. It is made up of bunches of small berries that vary in colour from pink to blue-grey. It is particularly well suited to the continental climate because it is resistant to the cold in winter and to spring frosts. This variety also likes dry limestone soils with plenty of sunshine in the summer. Pinot Gris is well suited to late harvesting or to the selection of noble grapes, depending on the year and the concentration of sugars in the berries. Pinot Gris wines are distinguished by their aromatic complexity of white fruits, mushrooms, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, etc., and their great finesse. In the Loire Valley, pinot gris is used in the Coteaux-d'Ancenis appellations. It gives dry or sweet wines with pear and peach aromas.
white wines from the region of Luxembourg go well with generally quite well with dishes of rich fish (salmon, tuna etc), shellfish or pork such as recipes of mackerel in white wine, gari (cassava flour) with shrimps (africa) or wild boar bourguignon.
