|
|
The onset of winter with heavy frost at the beginning of February has once again made it possible for producers in various regions to harvest frozen grapes for ice wine production. Around four months after the end of the 2020 harvest, the last grapes of the Eiswein vintage are now in the cellar, reports the German Wine Institute (DWI).
Despite the long waiting period, the health of the grapes is sensational, they say from Heppenheim (Hessian Bergstrasse), where the Bergstrasse vintners brought in the last rock-hard frozen grapes of the Piwi grape variety Souvignier gris on 11 February 2021 at minus eleven degrees. The frosty temperatures in the Rheingau also allowed the Trenz, Spreitzer and Mohr wineries to harvest, as did the Weinkontor Edenkoben in the Palatinate.
The thermometer fell below the minus seven degree mark required for the ice wine harvest a total of four times this ice wine harvest season, reports the DWI. As early as 30 November 2020, grapes could be harvested for ice wine in the wine regions of Nahe, Mosel, Rheinhessen, Pfalz, Franconia and in the Rheingau. In Franconia, the thermometer even dropped to a minimum of twelve degrees on this day for the harvest of the noble sweet speciality. The second and third harvests followed in 2021 on the 11th as well as on the 16th and 17th of January, when winegrowers were able to bring in frozen grapes in isolated cases at temperatures as low as minus ten degrees.
The very good health of the grapes in this year's vintage offered the best conditions for a promising ice wine vintage, writes the DWI. According to the report, the majority of grapes harvested were of the Riesling variety, which is well suited for Eiswein production due to its later ripeness. However, Pinot Noir and grapes of the Souvignier gris or Sémillon Blanc varieties were also found as frozen harvest material in the winegrowers' cellars this year.
The DWI has compileda list of ice wine producers for the 2020 vintage.
(uka / Photo: German Wine Institute)