Germany.info : Information Services: Publications: The Week in Germany

Germany.info Home: Information Services: Publications: The Week in Germany

The Week in Germany: Business, Technology and the Environment

November 9, 2007

Optimal Weather Leads to a Bumper Year for German Rieslings

Photo: Colourbox

The Rieslings from the prime Mosel River winegrowing region in south-western Germany are set for an exceptional year. The harvest is in, and winemakers are anticipating a bumper year - in both quality and quantity.
"The weather over the whole season allowed wine growers to harvest their vineyards at the optimal stage of ripeness," says Adolf Schmitt, president of the Mosel wine-growers' association.

The Riesling cultivar, Germany's premier white grape, has done particularly well in the Mosel region, where wine-growing was introduced by the Romans 2,000 years ago. Prices for Riesling must - the term wine-growers give to the pressed grapes - reached 1.30 euros (1.87 US-dollars) a liter, a 30 percent increase from last year. Must from the steep hillsides on the slate soils favored by the cultivar secured as much as 1.80 euros. On these slopes the grapes take in the most minerals from the soil, leading in turn to the characteristic mineral tastes for which Rieslings are known.

The harvest in the Mosel region topped 970,000 hectoliters, 15 percent more than last year. Conditions throughout the growing season were exceptionally good. An early spring saw the grapes blossom four weeks earlier than the long-term average. The last year that the Riesling grapes blossomed this early was 1921. And the ripening phase was exceptionally long - 120 days rising to as much as 150 days on some slopes - against a norm of 100 days.

The exceptional 2007 Riesling comes at just the right time for Germany's winegrowers. Riesling has gained increasing popularity in the United States and Scandinavia, where drinkers are willing to pay high prices for top-quality wines. More than 40 per cent of Mosel wines are destined for markets abroad. Exports between August 2006 and July 2007 rose 7 percent in quantity on the year, and as much as 22 per cent in value to 109 million euros.

And growers along the scenic Mosel valley are enjoying a tourist boom, as Germans rediscover their own country as a holiday destination. (TWIG/dpa)

Links:

Wines of Germany

Back to the Front Page

Current Headlines

Introducing
The German Information Center