2012 Germany & Mosel Riesling Vintage

Wine Spectator's harvest report of 20 November 2012 called it a tough vintage for German growers, with cool, rainy weather, reduced yields and disease pressure. Cold weather in May caused abnormal fruit set, or millerandage, and the rainy spell that followed brought mildew. A hot August halted its spread, and September was warm and dry, weather that carried on into October and allowed long hang time. Outside the harvest, temperatures were cooler than normal and humidity was high. In every German region the moderate summer temperatures and the sunny autumn allowed a very long ripening phase, which benefited fruit and aroma, and in every region except Franken, the Pfalz and Wurttemberg, unfavorable weather during flowering pushed yields below average. Picking in the Mosel started in mid-October. On 17 October Raimund Prum of S. A. Prum still had many parcels with time left and was giving ripeness a little longer, while Christian Ebert of Schloss Saarstein on the Saar had picked about 20 percent of the estate. Studert-Prum on the Saar was still in the middle of the harvest on 26 October. The Mosel crop was estimated at 750,000 hectoliters, 22 percent less than 2011.

• Germany-wide: cold May weather caused millerandage, then rain brought mildew until a hot August halted its spread
• September was warm and dry into October, with a very long ripening phase in every German region
• Picking in the Mosel started in mid-October; S. A. Prum was still giving many parcels time on 17 October
• Mosel crop estimate: 750,000 hectoliters, down 22 percent on 2011

On 17 October the grapes at S. A. Prum in the Mosel were in very good condition, although some botrytis had appeared on very compact bunches in some good parcels; those were to be picked from the following Monday with careful selection. A moderate yield was expected, provided wild boar and greedy birds did no more damage, with must weights good and acidity healthy. The same day at Schloss Saarstein on the Saar, Riesling was 20 to 25 percent below average in quantity and Weissburgunder only 20 percent of average, with must weights normal and comparable with 2009, acidity slightly higher, and grapes very healthy and aromatic. On 26 October Studert-Prum, also on the Saar, called the quality super and the quantity small, after wild boar had plundered a 3,000 square meter vineyard the week before.

• S. A. Prum (Mosel): some botrytis on very compact bunches in some good parcels; must weights good, acidity healthy
• Schloss Saarstein (Saar): Riesling 20 to 25 percent below average; must weights comparable with 2009, acidity slightly higher
• Schloss Saarstein: grapes very healthy and aromatic, about 20 percent picked by 17 October
• Studert-Prum (Saar): quality super, quantity small; wild boar plundered a 3,000 square meter vineyard

Germany's total crop was expected at around nine million hectoliters, only slightly below 2011 and the ten-year average of 9.25 million, with large swings between regions: Franken, the Pfalz and Wurttemberg grew after late-frost losses the year before, while the Mosel fell 22 percent. DWI managing director Monika Reule said that in quality the 2012s followed on directly from the great 2011 vintage, and that the health of the crop had been especially pleasing. Pradikat estates used the frosty nights of 8 and 9 December and of 12 and 13 December for the Eiswein harvest, with temperatures at times falling into double figures below zero, and the musts were clear and clean. Karthauserhof in Trier picked Riesling Eiswein in the Eitelsbacher Karthauserhofberg on 12 December at 170 degrees Oechsle. Nik Weis of St.-Urbans-Hof told Wine Spectator that the unsteady and partially extreme weather made an extra step necessary before picking: "we picked out those bunches and sometimes single berries that were dried out because of sunburn, or that had suffered from mildew." Wine Spectator advised German wine fans to seek out fastidious producers.

• Germany: about nine million hectoliters expected, slightly below 2011 and the ten-year average of 9.25 million
• Franken, the Pfalz and Wurttemberg were up on 2011; the Mosel was down 22 percent
• Eiswein was picked on the frosty nights of 8 and 9 and 12 and 13 December
• Nik Weis (St.-Urbans-Hof) removed sunburned and mildewed bunches and berries before picking