Warm, Dry Weather: Winemakers Expect a Good Wine Year

Top-Quality Wines Expected

As a result, Schreiter—who runs a winery with his wife in Höhnstedt (Saalekreis)—expects “absolute top quality” from the wines. “Overall, I see this as a very, very positive wine year.”

The grapes are ripening relatively early this year, Hößelbarth added. He therefore expects the vintage to have good aromatic and flavor maturity.

Yields at a Solid Level

Initial cautious forecasts from the Freyburg-Unstrut Winegrowers’ Association project a harvest volume of 2 to 2.3 million liters this year. On average, the harvest along the Saale, Unstrut, and Salza rivers is expected to be 2.1 million liters. Following a dismal harvest in 2024, last year’s yield was as high as 2.8 million.

The situation is similar in Saxony. Although they won’t reach last year’s record harvest of nearly 2.95 million liters, “I’m assuming a 10 percent decrease, which puts us at about 2.6 million liters—still a very solid harvest volume for Saxony,” said Hößelbarth.

Smaller grapes and drought stress due to low rainfall

However, the lack of rain isn’t all positive. “The current drought in July and August is now becoming quite severe,” said Hößelbarth. The grapes are somewhat smaller than in a year with adequate water supply—but that doesn’t necessarily mean the harvest will be smaller.

As good as the weather may have been for the wine, there is now a risk of drought stress for the vines, adds Schreiter. So far, the start of the grape harvest in the Saale-Unstrut region is planned for mid-September. In some vineyards, the vines can be irrigated. However, if the quality of the grapes suffers and the vines are damaged, this could lead to an earlier harvest.

The harvest starts earlier in Saxony. The Schloss Wackerbarth State Winery will kick things off there this coming Thursday. According to Hößelbarth, the grape harvest is generally expected to begin in the last week of August.

Harvest Moved Up

Over the past 15 years, the harvest has shifted forward by one to two weeks due to higher temperatures, Hößelbarth explained. One indicator is the earlier start, which now occurs almost every year in the second half of August. “On the other hand, we used to finish the Riesling harvest in late October or early November. Now it’s in the first half of October.”

Winemakers Adapt with “Varieties of the Future”

In light of changing conditions, more and more winemakers are turning to new grape varieties, for example because they are more resistant to fungal diseases. Schreiter calls them “varieties of the future.” In Höhnstedt, the head of the winegrowers’ association himself cultivates, for example, the red wine variety Cabaret Noir, which originates from Switzerland—and, according to him, with increasing success. “If we had more of it, we would produce wines of the same quality as in France in the past—that is, what people typically think of as French wines,” believes the managing director.

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