The river flooded in 2016, bursting its banks and rising almost 4 metres, and before that in 2013, 1910 and 1804. Many lives were lost in 1804 and 1910, in catastrophes remembered only in stories read from history books to bored schoolchildren. The sisters' great-grandmother Anna Meyer lived through the 1910 flood, although she never spoke of it to Meike and Dörte.
They are the fifth generation of their family to make wine in the village of Dernau. Meike, 44, is blond, thoughtful and a little serious; Dörte, 42, who has dark hair that comes down to her waist, is quicker to laugh. Both have the same steady gaze. Their father, Werner Näkel, is a hero in the Ahr, widely credited with transforming it from a place where sugar was added routinely to cheap, bad wine into a region with award-winning vintages.
After studying at the prestigious Hochschule Geisenheim University, the sisters took over the family estate, Meyer-Näkel, and its 23-hectare vineyard. Its winery, where the wine is made and stored, is in a warehouse on the banks of the Ahr.
This is red wine country. Tourists come from across Germany and the surrounding countries to hike the red wine trail, walking from village to village to drink local pinot noir, sometimes at tables in the vineyards. The hills are stubbled with vines that, from a distance, look like the quills on a porcupine. The slopes are so steep that you wonder how anyone could pick the grapes without tumbling down, yet every September the harvest is brought in without incident.
The Ahr threads its way through the villages of Schuld, Altenahr and Dernau, then Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler-the biggest town in the Ahr valley - and on to Sinzig, before joining the Rhine near Bonn.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 19, 2024 من The Guardian Weekly.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 19, 2024 من The Guardian Weekly.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
'Grey Zone' How The IDF Views Some Journalists As Targets
Despite denials by Israel of deliberate targeting to silence critics, record number of media workers killedin Gaza
Airports Are Everywhere -But Where Are All The Passengers?
Last month, the governor of Zamfara, one of Nigeria's poorest states, held a ceremony to mark the start of construction on an international airport in the state capital Gusau.
Biden's Burden President Needs To Give Way To Someone Who Can Beat Trump
What was the worst moment? Perhaps when one especially rambling sentence of Joe Biden's ended in a mumbled, confused declaration that "We finally beat Medicare", as if he were the enemy of the very public service Democrats cherish and defend.
UN Aid Chief Departs With Warning Of 'Huge' Famine
Sudan is facing horror "beyond imagination", the outgoing UN aid chief has warned, with 750,000 people under imminent threat of famine and with conditions in danger of worsening even further.
LENDERS OF LAST RESORT
In 2024, Britain's libraries aren't just for books. They're support centres, homeless shelters and safety nets-filling huge gaps left by the state
New chapter What next for Julian Assange and WikiLeaks?
As Julian Assange enjoyed his first weekend of freedom in years, there appeared to be no question in the mind of his wife, Stella, about what the family's priorities were.
On the line The supreme court handed Trumpa partial win. Now what?
Ruling means the former president is now less likely to face trial in the subversion case before the election
"This makes us nervous' Balloon wars raise stakes in the DMZ
Just a stone's throw from North Korea, farmer Park Se-un tends to his crops under the watchful eye of the South Korean military.
"They won't silence us' Activist's vow after ambush and beating
Opposition is pinning its hopes on parliamentary elections in October, amid attacks on government critics
Before the Conservatives came to power in 2010, David Cameron set out his vision of a prosperous, secure country that would care for all. By every yardstick, his party has failed The long and wasted years of Tory Britain
There have been times in the past few weeks, watching Rishi Sunak, with his hands flailing for the steering wheel, when just for a second or two the ghosts of the Conservative party's last 14 years have seemed to play across his features, and we all have been forced to endure the unspooling catastrophe once again: the Truss budget and Partygate and proroguing parliament and Theresa May croaking her way to her P45 and No Deal is Better than a Bad Deal and Eat out to Help Out and, God help us, Get Brexit Done.
