2023 Germany & Mosel Riesling Vintage

The 2023 season opened with welcome winter rains that replenished water reserves depleted by the hot and dry 2022 vintage. An exceptionally dry May, June, and July followed, creating drought stress in younger vineyards while older, deep-rooted vines coped well. Heavy August rains then reversed the situation entirely, creating significant fungal and disease pressure that forced growers into action. September brought a critical reprieve: clear, warm, dry weather accelerated ripening sharply and prompted a fast, early harvest. For Riesling, mid-September picking became the norm across the Mosel, with diligent sorting of healthy fruit being the defining discipline of the vintage.

• Winter and spring rains replenished soil water reserves depleted by the extremely dry 2022 growing season
• May through July were exceptionally dry; Dönnhoff (Nahe) recorded just 6 litres of rainfall per square metre across the entire three-month period
• August rains created substantial fungal disease and botrytis pressure, requiring rapid, costly hand-selection of healthy fruit at harvest
• September cleared to warm, dry conditions, accelerating ripening so rapidly that grape varieties ripened almost simultaneously, creating a demanding, fast-paced harvest

The 2023 vintage was notably heterogeneous across Germany's 13 wine regions. The Mosel and Nahe emerged as the most consistent performers, with their cooler sites reflecting vintage conditions most expressively in Riesling. Rheinhessen was hit hardest by yield losses, with mid-September rainfall causing an estimated 23% drop in harvest volume compared to the 10-year average. The Pfalz and Rheingau showed less pronounced vintage character in 2023, making producer selection more important than usual. In the Mosel, the great steep-slope vineyards of the Middle Mosel — sites such as Erdener Treppchen and Ürziger Würzgarten — produced wines of crystalline mineral precision, while the Saar subregion contributed taut, racy Rieslings with excellent natural structure.

• Mosel and Nahe showed the most consistent and expressive vintage character for Riesling in 2023, with cooler sites rewarding patient, selective growers
• Rheinhessen suffered the largest yield losses of any major region, with smaller berry size and September rain reducing harvest by an estimated 23% against the 10-year average
• Pfalz and Rheingau displayed less pronounced vintage fingerprint, making individual producer reputation and vineyard selection critical for buyers
• Saar sub-region produced taut, racy, citrus-driven Rieslings from its steep slate slopes, with wines built for long-term cellaring

Dry Riesling in the Grosses Gewächs category was the unambiguous star of 2023, with multiple producers achieving 100-point scores from major critics — including Peter Lauer's Schonfels GG from the Saar. For Joh. Jos. Prüm, now led by Dr. Katharina Prüm across the estate's 13.5 hectares, the 2023 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese was praised for its cool, vibrant acid tension and extraordinary salinity. Dr. Loosen's Ürziger Würzgarten Kabinett, sourced from the site's distinctive Rotliegendes red volcanic sandstone, delivered the vintage's signature combination of exotic spice, citrus, and mineral lift at just 8% ABV. Immich-Batterieberg also produced acclaimed dry wines from ancient ungrafted vines, though quantities were tiny. Across the board, the very best 2023s are wines where quality was earned through relentless sorting and rapid decision-making at harvest.

• Peter Lauer Schonfels GG 2023 (Saar) received 100 points from James Suckling for its spectacularly racy precision — a benchmark dry Riesling of the vintage
• Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese 2023: cool, vibrant, saline and endlessly structured, noted as needing bottle age but built for a long future
• Dr. Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Kabinett 2023: 8% ABV, exotic spice and citrus from Rotliegendes volcanic rock, a textbook expression of the site's singular character
• Immich-Batterieberg's single-vineyard dry Rieslings from ungrafted vines drew critical acclaim, though the rarest bottlings were produced in quantities of just a few hundred bottles

Unlike the lean, austere 2021s, the 2023s are welcoming and expressive in youth while still carrying the structure for extended ageing. Acidity is graceful and integrated rather than sharp, and the generous water supply of the growing season produced wines with excellent extract and a salty, gripping quality on the palate. Dry Rieslings are already offering tremendous pleasure and site-transparency. Kabinett and Spätlese wines carry low residual sugars by the standards of recent warm vintages, as vigorous fermentations pushed many wines drier than expected. Sweet categories at Auslese level and above are extremely rare and will not appear at auction for some years. The best 2023s are built to improve across the medium to long term.

• Dry Grosses Gewächs Rieslings are approachable now but built for a decade or more of development, with most critics suggesting drinking windows extending into the 2030s
• Kabinett and Spätlese wines fermented to lower residual sugars than usual due to vigorous fermentations, making them more food-friendly and accessible than prior warm vintages
• Dessert wines at Auslese and above are rare; noble botrytis conditions were insufficient for widespread BA or TBA production in 2023
• Store at a stable cool temperature; the integrated, fine acidity of 2023 provides a sound natural framework for ageing across all quality levels

In the context of recent German vintages, 2023 occupies a distinctive position. Where 2022 was characterised by extreme dryness and heat, and 2021 by austere, high-acid mineral precision, 2023 combines elements of both. Analytically, ripeness and acidity levels are not dramatically different from 2022, but the generous water supply produced wines with more extract, texture, and mid-palate density. The vintage is highly heterogeneous: the gap between wines from committed, quality-focused estates and those from less careful producers is wider than usual. Buyers are advised to focus on trusted growers. For those who do, 2023 offers wines of genuine complexity and longevity, particularly in dry Riesling and the Kabinett and Spätlese categories.

• 2023 sits stylistically between the opulent, dry 2022 and the austere, tightly wound 2021 — with the extract and texture of the former and structural precision closer to the latter
• Vintage heterogeneity is high: producer selection is more consequential in 2023 than in more uniform vintages, making merchant guidance and trusted-estate buying especially important
• Riesling was the clear winner of the 2023 harvest across Germany, outperforming Spätburgunder and other varieties that struggled more with the August disease pressure
• Top-rated dry Rieslings of 2023 remain competitively priced relative to their quality, offering strong value for collectors willing to seek out the best estates

The generous rainfall of 2023 — particularly the August rains following the drought of early summer — energised vine metabolism and supported robust, complete fermentations. Wild yeasts were well-nourished, and many fermentations ran drier than normal, pushing residual sugars in Kabinett and Spätlese wines below typical levels for the Prädikat category. The result is a vintage in which wines taste drier than their label category might suggest. Acidity is present and structuring but well-integrated, described by producers as flowing and harmonious rather than sharp or dominant. Extract levels were notably high at some estates, with one Rheinhessen producer citing the highest dry extract since 2010. The challenge of 2023 was not achieving ripeness but achieving purity — the painstaking removal of botrytis-affected fruit at harvest.

• Fermentations were vigorous and complete in 2023 due to water availability and high nutrient levels in grapes, driving residual sugars lower than Prädikat classifications might imply
• Acidity is integrated and harmonious rather than sharp; producers describe it as lower than 2021 and as graceful as a vinyl record compared to some dissonant 2022 acidities
• Dry extract was notably high at many estates — one Rheinhessen producer cited the highest levels since 2010 — contributing to a full, textured palate feel
• The defining winemaking challenge was purity, not ripeness: removing botrytis-affected and rot-compromised fruit required significantly larger harvest teams and multiple selective passes through the vineyard