2013 Germany & Mosel Riesling Vintage

A long winter and a cool spring brought relatively late bud break and late flowering. Flowering in the Mosel began only around 20 June and was hampered by rain and cool temperatures, causing poor fruit set, above all in Riesling. Storms with hail at the start of flowering damaged around 400 hectares of vineyards in the Middle Mosel. Hot weather in July and August let the vines partly make up the lost time. Across Germany's leading regions, the summer was mild, neither too hot nor too cold, followed by a lot of rain in September, day after day. In the Mosel, the combination of moisture and a warm October spread botrytis quickly and cut the crop considerably, above all in Riesling. The Moselland cooperative dates the start of picking for early white varieties in the Mosel to 27 September 2013 and the Riesling main harvest to 14 October, finished by the end of October because the grapes ripened fast, while Vinum has the Riesling harvest running from mid-October into November. The crop for the whole growing region was estimated at only 620,000 hectoliters, more than a quarter below an average year, and a forecast of 28 October 2013 put the Mosel 25 percent below the long-term average.

Selective picking and sorting let Mosel estates make almost the full quality range up to Trockenbeerenauslese. Most of the crop came in between 70 and 80 degrees Oechsle, and the bulk of the grapes went into Qualitatswein, Kabinett and Spatlese. Toward the end of October and in early November, Riesling musts in the Auslese range were pressed, above all in the Middle Mosel and on the Terrassenmosel, and several estates crowned the vintage with Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese at must weights of up to 230 degrees Oechsle.

Average yields were estimated at 65 hl/ha for Riesling, 95 hl/ha for Muller-Thurgau, 100 hl/ha for Elbling and 75 hl/ha for the Pinot varieties, with yields varying widely by site and estate. On the Saar and the Terrassenmosel the crop was clearly smaller than the regional average. Because the crop was small, prices for must and bulk wine had already risen above the previous year's. The Moselland cooperative described its own harvest as one of good quality at moderate yields overall: its growers in the Mosel, Nahe and Pfalz, together with its partner cooperative in Rheinhessen, brought in around 19 million liters of must.

The VDP's 2013 harvest diary gives the growers' view as it happened. On 1 October Karin Fischer of Weingut Dr. Fischer on the Saar found the vineyards looking good and the fruit healthy, with must weights not yet exciting, and Max von Kunow of Weingut von Hovel planned to start pre-picking on the Saar on 21 October. On 2 October Nik Weis of St. Urbans-Hof wrote that, with cool nights and sunny days, things looked very good in the Mosel. On 16 October, the first day of the harvest at S.A. Prum, Raimund Prum saw great grapes alongside others the rain had damaged, and on 23 October he wrote that the weather had once again upset the picking plan. On 6 November Heymann-Lowenstein pressed more than 100 liters of must from the Uhlen Roth Lay after many hours of sorting. Weis told Wine Spectator, "This year in general was really a year for people that put a lot of work in to their vineyards," and said he picked at higher residual sugar levels to help offset the grapes' high acidity, giving wines with "an enormous tension."

The national harvest was estimated on 28 October 2013 at only about 8.4 million hectoliters of must, 7 percent below 2012 and 9 percent below the ten-year average of 9.26 million hectoliters. Unfavorable weather during flowering in June had already reduced fruit set, especially in the Pinot varieties, and selection at harvest cut volumes further. DWI managing director Monika Reule called the comparatively late picking date very positive for aroma, giving young wines that were very fruit-driven and mostly moderate in alcohol. In Germany's leading regions, mildew and rot affected many vineyards, grapes picked too soon after the September rain showed unripe flavors and searing acidity, and cooler, drier weather returned in November, halting the spread of rot.