After almost six weeks, the grape harvest in Saxony's Elbe Valley has come to an end. "The majority of winegrowers finished in September," said Felix Hößelbarth, Chairman of the Saxony Winegrowers' Association. As expected, the quantity is probably only 20 to 30 percent of a normal harvest. The association expects 800 liters for the entire growing region. "The quality is very good with a low quantity." The beautiful dry weather with plenty of sunshine has given the fruit a healthy ripeness. "No rot, wonderful, healthy grapes."
Vintage forecast confirmed
The grape harvest in the Elbe Valley began at the end of August, two weeks earlier than usual in line with the trend of previous years. Due to the varying ripeness of the fruit and the resprouting after late frosts in April, it was stretched out over time. It was already clear beforehand that the capricious weather would lead to considerable damage in Germany's smallest wine-growing region - the second budding of the vines was only able to compensate for this to a very limited extent.
"We will remember the 2024 wine year for a long time," says Björn Probst, Operations Manager of Saxony's largest private winery, Schloss Proschwitz Prinz zur Lippe. "In the end, it gave us very ripe Riesling." The Proschwitz harvest ends on Monday with the harvest of the last grapes of this variety on the Seusslitz Closterberg. The Saxon Wine Queen Ivanna Wübken has confirmed her attendance - accompanied by the two wine princesses Janine Merkel and Antje Peschel.
https://www.schloss-proschwitz.de
"We fought for every vine," said Martin Junge from the Saxon State Winery Schloss Wackerbarth. Nevertheless, the yield is only around 20 percent of a normal year - as feared. In the vineyards around Radebeul, the harvest will continue until next week. This means that some of the late Riesling grapes harvested earlier as a base wine for sparkling wine will ripen fully.
https://www.schloss-wackerbarth.de
Wackerbarth is also satisfied with the quality, said Junge. High must weights, low acidity and a suitable aroma are a solid basis for our cellar masters to make wines that are typical and appreciated for our growing region - "delicately fruity, elegant and with finesse".
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