Vintage 2019 - reduced to its best

Despite frost, hail and drought: 2019 was again a very good vintage with dense and expressive wines.

The top topic of 2019 - climate change - is also high on our agenda: we had to go through a capricious weather until the grapes were ready for harvest. To name just a few: a too mild and dry winter, last frosts in May, and damage caused by the Sun due to extreme heat. But despite all the challenges, we harvested a very good result thanks to joint efforts and clever management in harmony with nature. After the opulent 2018 "Oechslekönig" vintage, we had again a very good vintage in the cellar in 2019, harvesting dense, expressive wines with vibrant freshness.

Early budbreak on the Mosel, the Saar and the Ruwer rivers.

The winter of 2018/2019 was already significantly too dry. Our deliberately deep-rooted vines had to cope with a low amount of precipitation, as only little water was available in the soil. In addition, it was also too warm last spring. Between February and April, temperatures were almost two degrees Celsius above the long-term average, which resulted in significantly earlier budbreak on April the 20th, especially on the Middle Mosel.

This had disastrous consequences: Indeed on May 6th, the crazy weather events of 2019 gave us another late frost, which affected about a quarter of our total vineyard area. The vineyards on the Ruwer around Eitelsbach and some on the Saar were particularly hardly affected. Fortunately, most of our vineyards on the Mosel were spared the frost.

A few later, a rather cool month of May significantly slowed down the growth of the vines. Thus, it was not surprising that the vines began to bloom around June 15th, a value close to the long-term average.

The summer on the Mosel, the Saar and the Ruwer was not an unclouded joy for our vineyards. We measured too little precipitation, and the summer of 2019 was clearly too dry. Furthermore, the extreme heat by the end of July with temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius demanded great sensitivity from all winegrowers in the region and caused severe damage on an unprecedented scale to many vines - on all three river slopes.

Rain? A small boundary between curse and blessing

Sunny August gave us a breather with the onset of ripening, but unfortunately it remained too dry, just like spring. An area of low pressure brought the long-awaited rain in many places at the beginning of August. Precipitation varied greatly from one place to another, this is why the boundary between curse and blessing is very small.

In mid-September 2019, we were able to start the grape harvest. The starting point was set by our Frühburgunder grapes on September 17th, followed by Elbling on September 19th. Our Riesling grapes were harvested starting from September 30th.

Unfortunately, the Riesling harvest was wasted by heavy rainfall. Starting from September 23rd, the rain damaged the ripe grapes: about 100 liters just before harvesting. The already plump berries burst open, which needed a high selection effort during the harvest. In addition, many grapes showed berries with different degrees of ripeness. The harvesters not only had to watch out for rot, they also had to sort out berries damaged by hailstorms, sun or drought. At the end of the harvest, Golden October made a guest appearance with lots of sunshine and summery warm days. On October 19th, all our grapes were harvested.

High quality thanks to a lot of tact

Looking back, the 2019 harvest was not an easy and extended harvest like the year before. The changing weather interspersed with showers drove our harvest team through the vine rows faster than ever before. Despite high selection efforts during harvest and before pressing the berries, we finished the harvest in record time.

Our conclusion: We draw an ambivalent harvest balance and expect a high quality with a low harvest quantity. We are very satisfied with the quality of the grapes, they allow us to expect a wide range of impressive estate and local wines. The must weights at the ripeness measurements were almost at the same level as last year, but they also brought some substance such as a charming acidity.

Now it is up to you to find your favorite among the many distinctive wines. We wish you much pleasure and look forward to hearing your thoughts on the 2019 vintage.