Status report by Dirk Würtz, our estate manager - 9 August

It’s been rather cool and wet. Heavy rainfall, in particular. During the past weekend alone we received nearly 50 liters/m2 in two days. That’s anything but good. There’s a lot of whining about “the summer that wasn’t summer” – everyone seems to have forgotten what a fantastic, warm and dry spring we had. August is usually high summer. But it just didn’t happen, and it’s time to get on with things.

The cool weather has slowed down the development of the grapes somewhat. Must weights didn’t keep up with the pace of last week. In the Rheingau, Riesing has now reached about 37°Oe (measured at specific reference sites), but that doesn’t say much. On the contrary. It does, however, slightly change the prognosis for an early harvest start. In Rheinhessen, the harvest got started yesterday. Ortega grapes were picked in Westhofen for the first Federweisser...

In certain sites, where ripening tends to come early, Riesling grapes are slowly but surely becoming soft. And somehow I already have a feeling that grapes are losing more juice than they did last year – which is not necessarily bad...

The forecast for the next few days is for more variable weather. Overall, Riesling is in good shape and the clusters still look very, very good.