October 17, 2014: News, Vintages
Harvest 2014 in full swing
The 2014 harvest will be a stop and go affair right until the end.
(images: Max Ferd. Richter / Meierer, all rights reserved)
The main Riesling harvest goes on at full swing as we speak. Here the takeaways for the week:
-
Unstable weather: the picture (middle left) in the Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr parcel of the Max Ferd. Richter looks like sunshine?
Well it rained no less than 5 minutes afterwards…
-
Warmth and dampness: the weather is still too warm to the liking of the winemakers, which leads to the development of botrytis,
as seen here on some young vines at the Weingut Meierer, and hence the need for severe selections.
-
Better … well is not better: the vineyards most hit by rot are the top vineyards in the warmer parts (Middle Mosel / Terrassenmosel):
the grapes here are riper, have therefore thinner skins and hence are quicker to burst and catch fungus.
Saar is looking better, thanks to its slower ripening curve.
-
Nervousness: the sum of all the above keeps all winemakers on their toes.
An example? Most decided to harvest last Sunday (October 5), a rare move (and a first for some).
-
All looks however good, even if complicated!
Thankfully, overall sugar levels seem still well-behaved and rarely above 90-95° Oechsle with good but not searing acidity,
which is quite frankly ideal (except if you have a sweet tooth and look forward for Auslese GK and above!).
Going forward, most will try to wrap up by the end of next week, several winemakers having done so already this week, including
Egon Müller,
Weiser-Künstler and
Heymann-Löwenstein.
Here some further vintage impressions from the Terrassenmosel area in the fog, the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and beautiful grapes in the Saarburger Rausch.
(images: Lubentiushof / Heribert Kerpen / Geltz-Zilliken, all rights reserved)
© Text by Mosel Fine Wines "The Independent Review of Mosel Riesling ... and beyond!"
Disclaimer: Mosel Fine Wines is an independent publication and has no commercial relationship with any Estate, association or organization featured in this article.