2016 in Germany
8/24/17 -
When speaking about the weather extremes of the 2016 vintage in Germany, many winemakers reflected on the new normalcy of having record-breaking weather every year. 2016: Rainiest Early Summer. The intense amount of rain made for Peronospora troubles for many, especially those who are farming organically. This loss of grape bunches made for different levels of ripeness of the grapes at harvest: on average, vines with reduced yields ripened more/faster than those with more bunches. Also, if folks chose to aggressively de-leaf for air flow during the wet months, they faced sunburn at the other end of summer. 2016 was a vintage made in the vineyard. Winemakers making the right choices at the right time harvested high quality grapes, with reduced yields. Some winemakers suffered extremely low yields. Weiser-Künstler, with vineyards in the Mittelmosel towns of Wolf, Enkirch, and Traben, caught the brunt of the Peronospora, reducing some vineyard yields to 10 hl/ha. All adversity aside, they were able to produce some beautifully balanced and elegant Rieslings.
Moving southeast to the northern Pfalz, the soils change from the slate and quartzite of the Mittelmosel into a mix of limestone, clay, loess, and loam. The terrain here stretches out into vast expanses of farmland alongside hills leading into the Haardt Mountains. Daniel and Jonas Brand farm 18 hectares here, starting organic farming on three hectares in 2011, graduating to all 18 by 2014 and will be certified with the 2018 vintage. The majority of their vineyards are on hillsides, some naturally secluded from surrounding parcels by the terrain, making for small oases of vines, grass, and flowers. The brothers are finding their voice, eager and enthusiastic yet practical. Learning constantly, and developing an intuition at a young age, we look forward to having more of their wines for all to try. As of now we only have the Pet-Nats and the Kabinett, all wines showing a brisk acidity and crisp minerality. We've included the Brand Pet-Nats in previous emails, but they are just too good to shut up about.
- Cari Bernard
