Dream harvest 2018: The summer of the century has given the Bischöfliche Weingüter Trier a legendary vintage of outstanding quality and yield

We cannot say it often enough, but producing wine in the era of climate change, with periods of drought and extreme temperatures has become a game of chance each year. Wine is and shall always be a completely natural product, and this is why it is influenced by many factors. But when we look back at the past year, we can already promise that 2018 will be a boon for the Bischöfliche Weingüter Trier, giving us sensational wines, top yields and the best quality.

After a very warm and dry summer, we started to pick the first grapes in early September, starting with the Frühburgunder in Eitelsbach along the Ruwer. We quickly saw that the yield was uniformly healthy, characterized by deep red grapes showing excellent phenolic ripeness and an ideal sugar-acidity ratio – a reassuring indication of what to expect from the vineyards to follow.

We started harvesting the Riesling in mid-September, making it the earliest Riesling harvest in the history of the Bischöfliche Weingüter Trier. We also started picking the grapes for our rosé at the same time. Shortly afterwards, we continued the harvest with a round of Pinot Blanc (Weissburgunder), for our Sekt and Dom Weissburgunder with the Saint Laurent grapes. At the beginning of October, we finished the harvest with the Riesling grapes from our most famous single-vineyard sites along the Mosel, the Saar and the Ruwer rivers and with the Pinot Blanc from the Saar. Both wines are vinified in the traditional Mosel Fuder casks. The harvest could hardly have made us happier: the grapes were of the highest quality across the board – ripe, rich and in prime health.

Johannes Becker, cellar master of the Bischöfliche Weingüter Trier and a wine expert in the region for more than 30 years, emphasizes how special this harvest was: “To this day I have not experienced an autumn in which the grapes were in such good condition throughout the harvest. There was no decay or harmful mold to be found, which is absolutely remarkable.”

Harvesting also started early in the Kanzemer Altenberg, land of our Pinot Noir (Spätburgunder), that began in late September. The Pinot Noir berries were wonderfully ripe and of a splendid color. They were selected by hand in two rounds in order to guarantee the highest quality before they were transferred to the mash tank for an eight-week fermentation period. At the end of November we got our first taste: a very full-bodied, concentrated Pinot Noir with gorgeous berry aromas and a deep ruby color  – a winegrower’s dream!

The weather of the last year gave Germany a summer to remember. There seemed to be no end in sight, much to the delight of winemakers and lovers of fine wines. In our vineyards, this extended season produced a crop of highly concentrated Riesling grapes which were picked in mid-October, some of them lightly covered with a very delicate and noble rot, creating the perfect basis for our collection of sweet wines – Auslese, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese – with up to more than 230 degrees Oechsle.

Thanks to the superior quality and plentiful yield of the harvest, the 2018 vintage will showcase our entire range of wines. Our experienced team agrees that our sparkling wine, also called Sekt, will have a harmonious acidity, and that the wines in our Dom and Schiefer collections, as well as all our other Qualitätsweine, will be fuller in flavor than the wines of the previous year, and that our Kabinettweine will be of outstanding quality. The fantastic growing conditions will also provide us with a wealth of excellent Spätlese and Auslese. The jewels of the collection are the Beerenauslese made from grapes grown in the Piesporter Goldtröpfchen vineyard as well as the Trockenbeerenauslese from the Kaseler Nies'chen, Kanzemer Altenberg and the Scharzhofberg vineyards. Fans of dry wines will also be spoiled for choice, with Grosse Gewächse and Réserve wines from the Graacher Himmelreich, Trittenheim Apotheke, Piesporter Domherr, Kaseler Nies'chen, Ayler Kupp, Kanzemer Altenberg and Scharzofberger vineyards.

In the coming weeks and months, things are about to get even more exciting: What will happen in the barrels and Fuders and how will the wine be like after fermentation? And finally, one of the most important questions for us: Will you be as delighted by the 2018 vintage as we are? We are eager to know and cannot wait for you to try our new vintage.