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In many growing regions in south-western Germany and also in Austria, ice wines could be harvested during the past nights. After it had already been cold enough in Saxony and Saale-Unstrut in the night of 20 November, the harvest of frozen grapes now also began in the Palatinate, on the Ahr, in Franconia, on the Hessische Bergstrasse, in Wuerttemberg and in Burgenland around Lake Neusiedl. At temperatures well below the required -7°C, grapes of various grape varieties could be brought in at degrees ranging from 110 to 205 degrees Oechsle. While Ahr vintner Peter Kriechel *** is pleased that "after more than 20 years, he finally had the conditions to harvest frozen grapes for our ice wine again this year", Fellbacher Weingärtner eG *** in Württemberg was able to bring in ice wine for the third time in a row. In Württemberg, at the Hagenbüchle vineyard, grapes of the Piwi variety Johanniter were harvested for ice wine for the first time ever. According to forecasts, temperatures should remain cold enough in the coming nights.
The risk of losing the grapes in increasingly mild winters has prevented many vintners from registering areas for the ice wine harvest this year. According to the Rhineland-Palatinate Chamber of Agriculture, there were 35 producers with 24 hectares. For the 2021 vintage, 152 farms still had grapes hanging on more than 100 hectares.
(al / Source: German Wine Institute, orf.at; Photo: German Wine Institute)