Germany's 2009 vintage will be as fine as the excellent 2007 – but with less wine, vintners say.
Ideal weather in the summer and early autumn means quality will be very high but yields will be down because of uneven flowering in June.
Helmut Dönnhoff of the Dönnhoff estate in the Nahe region said 2009 would be 'another great vintage, on par with 2007', potential alcohol between 12.5% and 13.5%.
Less wine will be produced in 2009 due in part to coulure – or shattering – during the June flowering period, when cold rainy weather resulted in less and smaller grapes per bunch.
There will be 10% less than last year, said Ernst Büscher, spokesman for the German Wine Institute.
'2009 will produce slightly less than 9m hectolitres of wine, the lowest figure since 2003, he said.
But sunny summer and autumn weather with cool nights ripened grapes slowly - which is excellent for aromatics, Manfred Prüm of the renowned JJ Prüm in Mosel said.
'We also have fine acidity. It is a pleasure to eat these grapes,' Prüm told decanter.com.
For the first time since 2003, German vintners were authorized to add acidity to their white wines, because of high potential alcohol in the southern Baden region, according to the German Wine Institute.
Register on decanter.com absolutely free for news alerts delivered direct to your email inbox, and our fortnightly newsletter with advance notice of what’s coming up in Decanter magazine, offers, competitions and more.
PLUS registration is a one-stop shop for the Decanter magazine Archive and Decanter Fine Wine Tracker.
