|
|
At the beginning of the Federweißenlese in the Palatinate and Rheinhessen, Ernst Büscher from the German Wine Institute (DWI) is very positive about the coming harvest of the 2019 vintage: "Due to the low rainfall and sunny summer, the grapes in the German growing regions are developing very healthily and well overall. The winegrowers are currently correspondingly optimistic about a good quality 2019 vintage," said Büscher.
Although the record temperatures in July damaged the grapes in many regions, partly due to sunburn and heat, and in some areas they were also injured by hailstorms, "these events had little effect on quality," he added.
He added that the risk of drought damage had also been averted for the time being by the rainfall of recent weeks in large parts of Germany. However, he added that the situation was "very heterogeneous due to the very different distribution of precipitation within the individual growing regions, so that there are still some vineyards that still have a need for water".
However, the weather in the coming weeks will be decisive for the quality of the vintage. The start of the main grape harvest is currently not expected for another four weeks, towards the middle of September. Late ripening varieties such as Riesling will probably only be harvested between the end of September and the beginning of October, depending on the growing region. "A lot can still happen until then," Büscher emphasized. At present, the development status of the vines corresponds approximately to the 30-year average. In the last exceptional year, 2018, the main grape harvest started two to three weeks earlier.
After a generally trouble-free flowering of the vines, the yield prospects for the vintage are good, but they are significantly below the above-average harvest of the previous year. Initial estimates, which could still change depending on the weather, currently assume that the national harvest volume could be around the level of the ten-year average of around nine million hectolitres.
(uka / Photo: German Wine Institute)