It bills itself as the “Sleeping Beauty of the Moselle.” A beauty it is, but sleeping, Beilstein is not. At least not on a sunny September Saturday when my wife and I paid this German village a visit.

BEILSTEIN, Germany — The wine is cool and crisp, best sipped from a green-stemmed goblet on a cafe terrace overlooking a river flanked by slanted vineyards and slate mountains. The days are long and ...