2013 Germany

South Germany (Part 1): Rheinhessen Pfalz Baden Württemberg Franken

Central Germany (Part 2): Ahr Mittelrhein Nahe Rheingau

North Germany (Part 3): Mosel Saar Ruwer

Two thousand thirteen is not a vintage for the faint of heart. High in both acidity and dry extract, the 2013s were quite austere after bottling. Over the last several months, however, the wines have gained both depth and body. The vintage also saw a great deal of botrytis. How these various components were managed at each individual estate was the key to success.

“The must weights are not yet that high and the acidities are still bracing,” commented Werner Schönleber from Emrich-Schönleber in Monzingen when I spoke with him about halfway through harvest. The resulting wines, in particular the Rieslings, are certainly not as rich and unctuous as they were in 2011 nor do they have the balance of the 2012s. Instead, they are more reminiscent of 2010 or 2008, vintages in which the tip of the iceberg was exceptional but the broad mass of wines is considerably less interesting.

Father and son team Werner and Frank Schönleber tending their vines in Monzingen

The 2013 Growing Season

In meteorological terms, 2013 was marked by a cool spring, late budbreak and uneven flowering. “Climate change was not the issue this year,” quipped Thomas Haag from the Mosel’s Schloss Lieser with a smile. The ensuing summer alternated between heat spikes and cool, damp intermezzos. By early September it was clear that the harvest would be fairly late, as the grapes were still far from ripe.

October brought abundant rains, often accompanied by warm nights that hastened the onset of botrytis. As the many showers fell unevenly, some regions were hit harder than others. During the 5-week period before and during crush, the Birkweiler area in the southern Pfalz drowned in 25 cm (9.8 in) of rain. After culling only the healthiest grapes, serious producers were left with only half a normal crop at best. Only a few kilometers north, the Mittelhaardt region experienced less than half as much rain, which left growers such as Steffen Christmann in Gimmeldingen with an excellent vintage of a satisfying volume.

Not surprisingly, some of the hardest-hit producers spoke of a very quick harvest, with their entire crop crushed within a week. The quick harvest was a race against botrytis, as the grapes were evolving from green to gold to brown at an alarming rate. Hansjörg Rebholz, who picked his Kastanienbusch vineyard a few days later than his colleagues, ended up only being able to produce an Auslese from his Riesling grapes, as opposed to a dry wine. Only those estates that were meticulous in their vineyards and sorted ruthlessly at harvest were able to make truly exciting sweet wines.

Further north, and in particular along the Mosel, the situation was both more difficult and more nuanced. Those who harvested early to avoid the ensuing onslaught of rot brought home unripe grapes that made squeaky-clean but utterly green and charmless Rieslings. Those who waited were rewarded with a single window of better weather in late October. The grapes harvested at this opportune time had more botrytis but better expressed the virtues of the vintage. Must weights quickly skyrocketed however, so many estates in the middle Mosel bottled a high percentage of Ausleses and little to no dry wine.

Here, too, yields were low. Some growers made only one-third the volume of an average year. Coming on the back of short crops in both 2012 and 2010, 2013 has strained the finances of many small estates, most of which are unable to raise their prices sufficiently to recover the loss.

Riesling grapes just before the 2013 harvest

2013 Vintage Characteristics

Germany’s total wine volume in 2013 (8.4 million hectoliters) was down 7% from the previous vintage, which is 250,000 hectoliters under the ten-year average. That said, the more quality-conscious producers experienced much lower yields. “We had little more than half a normal crop,” said Franz Wehrheim from Birkweiler in the southern Pfalz. That is a refrain I heard from many other producers as I made my annual rounds last summer.

While the comparison to 2010 is often evoked, it misses one key point. Two thousand thirteen has considerably more botrytis, a welcome change for some estates after the almost complete lack of it in 2012. Fortunately, in 2013 rot was predominately noble in nature, not the mildew or grey rot that plagued vintages such as 2006 and 2000. For producers with a market for Spätleses and Ausleses, this anomaly could be turned to a decided advantage. On the other hand, further south, where dry wines fetch a premium, the harvest was far more difficult and time-consuming. Even scrupulously sorted grapes often carry an echo of botrytis that can tarnish the purity of a wine. In that sense, 2012 was, with a few noticeable exceptions, a more balanced vintage.

Beyond botrytis, high acidity levels remain the leitmotif of the vintage. For some reason, as the grapes ripened and must weights rose, acidities did not fall as quickly as was generally expected. This has prompted producers such as Klaus-Peter Keller from Dalsheim in the Rheinhessen to compare 2013 with 2008, a vintage he admires. “There was perhaps not a lot of great wine from that year,” he says, “but the best are far more interesting than those from warmer years like 2011, 2009 and 2007.” Keller believes that the finest 2013s will have a similar development curve and be definitely superior to the 2010s, which he thinks have remained a bit one-dimensional.

How each producer coped with the high acidity levels was crucial to the quality of the wines he bottled. While almost every grower deacidified at least some of their wines, there was no patent answer. Estates like Schloss Lieser in the Mosel, Breuer and Künstler in the Rheingau, and Christmann in the Pfalz elected to be fearless in the face of the unusually high acidity. This strategy served them well, but not every grower had the ripeness of fruit and extract to permit such bravery.

Deacidification is a common method for reducing acidity in vintages such as 2013. While the practice is not inherently wrong, the finest wines tend to be those for which neither deacidification nor chapitalization (or other manipulations) is required. Unfortunately, many producers were unsuccessful in seeking a point of balance with their 2013s. The number of well-known estates that misjudged their de-acidifications or favored partial malolactic conversions to make their wines more palatable is greater than I would have liked to see.

As one of the more northerly wine regions, Germany has long struggled with the vagaries of weather, though the climate is far more genial today than a generation ago. As in all of Europe, the effects of global warming are being felt along the Rhine; it is no longer a question of ripening fruit, but of prolonging hang time to achieve maximum flavor. Although 2013 was more of a classical vintage, the way each region dealt with that issue is sketched briefly in their respective introductions.

Botrytisized grapes for a Trockenbeerenauslese

How I taste

Between the spring and fall of 2014, I tasted the wines covered in this article multiple times—at centrally-organized tastings, at many of the estates, and again in my office. I take notes during all of these tastings but never assign a score until I am able to assess the wine in a neutral environment. This I generally do in the fall, as it is hardly unusual for a Riesling that showed charmingly well in the spring to have lost some of its character by autumn, or for a slow starter to show a lot more potential than it demonstrated after bottling. That is the nature of wine and why I taste as often as possible. Even so, there are still some late or even not yet bottled 2013s that I have yet to see.

Mosel – An Overview

With some 8,765 hectares located at the northern cusp of Germany's vineyard area, the Mosel is probably the country’s best-known wine region. Given its position, the grapes here ripen later than in the Rheingau, while harvest takes place over a longer period of time. The Mosel, Saar, and Ruwer’s geographical complexity makes it difficult to sketch a general picture, as the quality of wine varies greatly from village to village, as well as from vineyard to vineyard.

Because German consumers tend to drink predominately dry Riesling, most Mosel producers have reoriented their focus to include this style. With a few notable exceptions, they have not been terribly successful. Even at their very best, few if any of them can compete with the dry Rieslings of the Rheingau, Nahe, Rheinhessen or Pfalz. When the Mosel does succeed, the wines generally verge on being off-dry.

Lieser, Molitor and occasionally a few others have shown that it is possible to make great dry Rieslings in the Mosel, but it is with the off-dry – or feinherb – wines, that the region truly shines. Such wines are inimitable, and could only be made within Germany. Best of all, they offer excellent value. Astute buyers are advised to seek such Rieslings or the slightly sweeter Kabinetts. As my scores are generally conservative, a Kabinett with 87 to 89 points represents an excellent introduction to the Mosel, while only a few, rare wines earned 90 points or above.

“Until the early ’80s, we often had vintages like 2013,” explains Dr. Manfred Prüm of the Joh. Jos. Prüm estate in Wehlen. With over 50 harvests under his belt, he is one of the grand old men of the Mosel and has memories of bygone years that few younger vintners can match.

Until two generations ago, the majority of vintages were mediocre. Back then, most producers would muddle through by first adding water to dilute the acidity, then sugar during fermentation to bump up the alcohol. The Rieslings were bottled with a modicum of residual sugar in order to make them more palatable. Some of these practices are now forbidden, but continual improvements in vineyard management have enabled many estates to make better and better wines from challenging vintages such as 2013.

The 2013 Vintage: After a cool spring and a late flowering, summer was comparatively hot, although the occasional burst of hail kept estates on their guard. Plenty of rain had already fallen during the growing season, but a series of heavy showers before and during harvest further complicated an already difficult situation. When grapes ripened at all, it was slowly, late and often without a commensurate fall in acidity. In a way, the crush was reminiscent of 2010, but warmer nights brought considerably more botrytis, which is why some of the better estates were able to make small quantities of Auslese.

Despite these dismal conditions, Mosel fared better than the Saar and Ruwer districts, and some estates bottled Rieslings of a level that many observers would not originally have thought possible. “It was a vintage that showed how important great sites are,” reflected Ernie Loosen of Dr. Loosen in Bernkastel, whose Erdener Prälat site fared particularly well this year. “Clearly warm sites with good drainage, thoughtful vineyard management and restrained yields had significant advantages.”

“In the end, this is a surprising year,” explained Johannes Selbach from Zeltingen. “None of us would have thought in late October that the wines would turn out so well.” What many had predicted would be at best an average vintage has become actually quite good - at least for the top wines. Much of the Mosel’s success this year was due to the vineyards’ ability to hang for an extended period while slowly accumulating sugar. “Parts of the 2013 harvest came in with 120 days of hang time,” said Selbach, “with the Kabinetts nonetheless remaining light and elegant.”

Severe sorting was also paramount. Thomas Haag of Schloss Lieser produced, from dry Grosses Gewächs to sublime Ausleses, arguably the best Rieslings of the vintage, but at great cost. “The little wine that we had was sold out before bottling,” he said. Haag is in the enviable position of being able to sell his wines at high prices, which allows him to make tough decisions. For other estates, however, the situation is much more precarious. Yields were down in some vineyards by half, and 2013 was only the most recent in a series of short vintages, which has brought more than one estate to the brink of financial disaster.

Producers covered: Weingut A. J. Adam, Weingut Clemens Busch, Weingut Jos. Christoffel Jr., Weingut Grans-Fassian, Weingut Fritz Haag, Weingut Reinhold Haart, Weingut Dr. Hermann, Weingut Heymann-Löwenstein, Weingut Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt, Weingut Schloss Lieser, Weingut Dr. Loosen, Weingut Meulenhof, Weingut Markus Molitor, Weingut Joh. Jos. Prüm, Weingut Max Ferd. Richter, Weingut Willi Schaefer, Weingut Selbach-Oster, Weingut Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch Erben Thanisch, Weingut Vollenweider and Weingut Nik Weis St. Urbans-Hof.

A view of the Mosel at from Bernkastel looking to Brauneberg

Saar – An Overview

While most collectors still associate the Saar with noble late harvest wines, a subtle change is underway. Roman Niewodniczanski of the Van Volxem estate in Wiltingen has campaigned for a decade to resurrect the drier style of Riesling that he claims is the true vaunted tradition of the Saar’s glorious past. While his wines are sometime a touch more off-dry, he has nonetheless led the charge to experiment with truly dry Rieslings. The first results were rather hit and miss, but today Von Hövel and Peter Lauer regularly make enticing dry Rieslings that are wonderful to drink for their light, svelte style.

In the not so distant past, Saar producers often resorted to making sparkling wines in years that were not up to snuff. This happened far more often than they would like to remember. Whether their current run of excellent vintages can be ascribed to better vineyard management, lower yields or global warming is beside the point. The fact is simply that there has not been a truly poor vintage here for more than a decade. Even in 2006 or 2003, which were quite difficult for many German regions, the wines turned out to be successes for the Saar.

The 2013 Vintage: Two thousand thirteen is one of the most difficult vintages in the Saar since 1982. “We decided to make nothing above a Kabinett level of quality,” explained Hans-Joachim Zilliken, whose deep, cool, damp cellar in Saarburg is often home to some of the finest Spätleses and Ausleses. Nonetheless, his 2013 Saarburger Rauch Riesling Kabinett is one of the stars of the vintage.

Although his Le Gallais label bottled no wine from the Wiltinger Braune Kupp in 2013, Egon Müller did manage to make one Spätlese and one Auslese. These wines were produced at a considerable cost, however: “We had only 30% of a normal crop,” he lamented.

In 2012, on the other hand, the Saar turned out many of the vintage’s best Spätleses, some of which can still be found on the market. Being a cooler area, its Rieslings retained the lightness and refreshing acidity that are not only the hallmarks of the region, but also key to the wines’ longevity.

In short, though 2013 had its difficulties, the previous generation of producers would have been smiling cheek to cheek to have such Rieslings in their cellars. That said, another vintage of such diminished yields, could spell disaster for the less financially solvent, no matter how good the quality might be.

Producers covered: Weingut von Hövel, Weingut Peter Lauer, Weingut Egon Müller Scharzhof, Weingut von Othegraven, Weingut van Volxem, Weingut Dr. Wagner and Weingut Zilliken Forstmeister Geltz.

Morning fog on the steep slopes of the Saar

Ruwer – An Overview

Since 2007, the Ruwer is officially part of the Mosel. However, like its neighbor Saar, Ruwer is still allowed to mention its individual provenance on the label. The Ruwer is the smaller of the two tributaries, and its regional style falls somewhere between the taut, mineral elegance of the Saar and the supple fruit of the middle Mosel.

Though von Beulewitz has performed consistently over the past decade, von Schubert’s resurgence seven years ago set a new pace for the region. A younger team is now in place at Karthäuserhof, and Karlsmühl – the area’s other major estate – is also showing renewed energy and making finer Rieslings than it has in several years.

The 2013 Vintage: After hail in 2012 reduced crop levels by as much as 30%, Mother Nature continued to throw curve balls at the Ruwer in 2013. A cool spring resulted in late flowering, which was followed by a hot summer. “Everything might still have turned out well,” said Carl von Schubert, “were it not for abundant rains accompanied by warm nights during the autumn as harvest approached.” These conditions not only diluted the fruit, but also generated an outbreak of botrytis. In addition, acidity levels remains extremely high – not unlike 2010 – because the grapes had ripened so slowly.

Good dry Rieslings were a rarity in 2013, with Karthäuserhof’s vibrantly dry Spätlese Tyrells Edition being a notable exception. On the other hand, the off-dry Kabinetts and subtle Spätleses that are the calling cards of the region are more dependable.

Producers covered: Weingut Erben von Beulwitz, Weingut Karlsmühle, Weingut Karthäuserhof and Schlosskellerei C. von Schubert Maximin Grunhaus.

The old cask cellar at von Schubert in Ruwer

Ahr – An Overview

Running parallel to the Mosel, the river Ahr flows from the east and joins the Rhine just south of the old capital, Bonn. The region’s vineyards unfold over 562 hectares, the majority of which occupy steep, south-facing slopes. These hillsides boast slate-rich soils that store the sun’s heat during the day, and reflect it back to the vines at night. The result of this greenhouse effect is a Mediterranean climate with surprisingly high average daytime temperatures and large diurnal swings.

Interestingly, a full two-thirds of the vineyards here are planted to Pinot Noir. Some of these wines enjoy an almost cult-like following within Germany, often fetching higher prices than the finest Rieslings. At a recent auction, Hugh Johnson made a tongue-in-cheek comment that this “seems to be a curious niche market.” I would add that the inquisitive wine lover might want to explore such wines when out to dinner in Germany.

Spätburgunder, a.k.a. Pinot Noir, is not always handled well in Germany. Too many estates believe that bigger is better, which is not the case with Pinot Noir. It is not unusual to find some highly regarded wines weighing in at over 14% alcohol, with some as high as 15.5%. While that may sound like impressive ripeness for such a northerly climate, it seldom translates into drinkability.

The two leading estates in the Ahr are Werner Näkel in Dernau and Jean Stodden in Rech. Jean Stodden in particular has shown remarkable consistency over the past few vintages and his best Pinot Noirs display the firmness, structure and velvety smoothness of fine Burgundy.

The 2012 Vintage: Given its northerly latitude, there is significant vintage variation in the Ahr. In 2012, poor weather during flowering led to very low yields, and was generally not as successful as 2011. That said, those estates that took risks, harvested late and made severe selections in their cellars were able to produce wines that rivaled the 2011s. “I am not certain which of the two vintages I prefer,” said Alexander Stodden, whose breathtaking 2012s certainly lead the fray here.

Two thousand eleven witnessed one of the earliest budbreaks in recorded history, though the rest of the season proceeded without incident, and enjoyed a long, relatively warm and dry summer. Not surprisingly, the year was touted along with 2007 and 2009 as another of the excellent odd-numbered vintages. Two thousand thirteen is another low-yielding vintage, very similar in character to 2012, but I’ll report on that in depth next year.

Producers covered: Weingut Meyer-Näkel and Weingut Jean Stodden.

View from the vineyards in Altenahr

Mittelrhein – An Overview

The classification of the Mittelrhein as an UNESCO world heritage site in 2002 is certainly a boon for this small, relatively unknown region, though most of the tourists are more interested in the scenery, castles and the Loreley than in the wines. The current area under vine measures only 462 hectares, less than a quarter of what was planted here a hundred years ago. Many of the finest vineyards have been abandoned, as the low prices commanded by the wines (primarily off-dry Rieslings) hardly justify the expense of cultivating the steep slopes.

Although in the past decade alone, an additional 10% of the Mittelrhein’s vineyards were deserted, there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon. The estates covered in this report are making the necessary investments and are finding new domestic markets for their wines. Improved vineyard practices as well as global warming have enabled them to produce ever-better Rieslings at prices that few other regions can match.

The 2013 Vintage: 2013 is by and large a reasonably good vintage for the Mittelrhein in terms of quality, but volume is down. “To maintain our standards, we had to make severe selections,” explained Matthias Müller, an advocate of wild fermentations. “Furthermore, because of the sanitary conditions at harvest, I even used cultured yeasts this year to ensure clean fermentations.” In spite of that, his Grosses Gewächs Riesling never finished its fermentation, and was bottled off-dry in style.

As with the previous two vintages, sugar levels rose rapidly late in the season. This resulted in somewhat higher levels of alcohol, especially for those wines that fermented to dryness. Acidities remained brisk, however, providing the off-dry Rieslings with more vibrant freshness than they had in either 2012 or 2011, without approaching the austerity of the 2010s.

The weather remained dry throughout most of the harvest and there was essentially no botrytis. As in 2012, virtually no noble late harvest Riesling was produced. While such sweeter styles still have followings in some export markets, domestic consumers prefer drier wines. In 2013, the dry and the slightly off-dry styles are the clear winners.

Producers covered: Weingut Toni Jost/Hahnenhof, Weingut Matthias Müller and Weingut Florian Weingart.

Vineyards climb the Mittelrhein's steep slopes

Nahe – An Overview

With 4,000 hectares under vine, the Nahe is a contorted mirror of the Rheingau. A confluent of the Rhine flowing from west to east, it spills into the larger river near Bingen, where both then change course and flow together northward. Nahe has only recently begun to garner the same standing as that of the Rheingau because the wines were sold as Rhine Rieslings until 1971. However, at their best, the Nahe wines can be equally good, and sometimes even better than those from neighboring Rheingau.

The 2013 Vintage: Two thousand thirteen was a challenging vintage in the Nahe. Given the late flowering, it was clear from the outset that it was not going to be an early harvest. Not surprisingly, most of the serious producers waited to harvest until after October 15, though weather conditions were complicated by cool, humid weather. Even so, must weights rose all too slowly and the acidity levels seldom fell in the traditional pattern. “The must weights are not yet that high and the acidities are still very bracing,” noted Werner Schönleber from Emrich-Schönleber in Monzingen about halfway through harvest.

Under these conditions, numerous estates chose either to deacidify their musts or to use slightly higher levels of residual sugar in their bottled wines in order to mask the green flavor exhibited by many of the simpler Rieslings. Neither was an adequate response. The only true solution was a late harvest, a severe selection and long aging on the lees to soften the wines’ rigid backbone. Such a rigorous approach, however, meant sacrificing up to a third of the crop. Karsten Peter from Hermannsberg is an extreme example; he produced only half the normal volume for some of his Rieslings.

Although the generic wines are often less than stellar, the finer 2013 Rieslings appear nicely balanced, in a vibrant style akin to the 2008s and 2004s. That said, they remained rather closed for much of the summer and only began to show their true potential after most of the buyers had already made their decisions. I find that the more I retaste them, the better they appear.

If the vintage has any other shortcomings, it is the scarcity of noble late harvest offerings. Indeed, many estates made nothing sweeter than an Auslese, which were often on a similar level to Spätleses from the same sites. However, as most consumers are interested in upscale dry wines (Kabinetts, Spätleses), this may not necessarily be a drawback.

Producers covered: Weingut Dr. Crusius, Schlossgut Diel, Weingut Hermann Dönnhoff, Weingut Emrich-Schönleber, Gut Hermannsberg, Weingut Kruger-Rumpf, Weingut Schafer-Fröhlich and Weingut Jakob Schneider.

View of the Rotenfels above the Nahe

Rheingau – An Overview

At only 3,000 hectares of vineyard, the Rheingau is small, but it is one of Germany's best-known regions. Located to the north of the Rheinhessen, it overlooks a unique stretch of the Rhine wherein the typically north-south flowing river runs east-west for a short distance. The finest vineyards are located along the south-facing bank, where the sunlight reflects off the water, providing extra warmth.

While Robert Weil remains the benchmark for Auslese and upwards, Leitz holds pole position in the off-dry category. Along with Breuer and Künstler, he is also a force to be reckoned with for the dry Rieslings that are so popular in Germany today. Kühn, however, outdid them all in 2013. His simplest dry Riesling, Jacobus, is lovely and his two Trockenbeerenausleses are among the best of the vintage. Other names that I would normally list in this group are Johannisberg and Spreitzer; while both are traditional favorites of mine, I am not overly impressed by either this year.

The 2013 Vintage: Two thousand thirteen will be remembered in the Rheingau as a vintage for the hillside vineyards. The schist-rich soils of Rüdesheim, with their heat-storing capabilities and good drainage, were particularly well-equipped to handle the cool, moist conditions that preceded harvest. Theresa Breuer from Rüdesheim explains that even when the fruit was harvested late, the “sugar levels remained low, but the aromatic ripeness was extraordinary.” Her finest dry Riesling, for example, hailed from the Schlossberg vineyard and only achieved 11.5% alcohol.

As elsewhere in Germany, the long winter and cool spring led to late budding and flowering. In the better sites, however, the warm summer sped up ripening to the point where some producers were discussing the marvelous potential of the vintage as early as September. Rain and botrytis in less well-drained sites quickly shattered those dreams.

The lower, flatter vineyards proved more challenging in 2013, but even there it was possible to make excellent Rieslings, as the sublime collection from Peter Jakob Kühn in Oestrich amply demonstrates. His son, Peter Bernhard, believes that their biodynamic farming “now enables them to obtain better balance in the vineyards and protect the grapes from adverse weather conditions.”

Warmer vineyards such as those in Hochheim that generally ripen earlier also fared well. The grapes at harvest were “perfectly healthy, with a fairly high percentage of tartaric acidity,” said Gunter Künstler. As this is vitis vinifera’s own natural acidity, that was a good sign. Nonetheless, like many of his colleagues, he compares the vintage to cooler years like 2008.

There is a wide gap in quality between the best and the worst wines of 2013, as was the case in 2008. In such adverse vintages, caliber of site becomes paramount, much more so than in warmer vintages like 2011 or 2009. But even with the finest vineyards, only those producers who waited for the perfect window to harvest, carefully removed unwanted botrytis and managed the bracing acidity levels with the intelligent use of fine lees made Rieslings of style and character.

Producers covered: Weingut Georg Breuer, Schloss Johannisberg, Weingut Johannishof, Weingut August Kesseler, Weingut Peter Jakob Kühn, Weingut Künstler, Weingut Leitz, Schloss Reinhartshausen, Domänenweingut Schloss Schönborn, Weingut Josef Spreitzer, Weinguter Wegeler Gutshaus Oestrich and Weingut Robert Weil.

Aerial view of Schloss Johannisberg in the Rheingau

Rheinhessen – An Overview

With almost 26,500 hectares of vines, the Rheinhessen is Germany's largest wine-growing region; but while the number of interesting producers continues to rise, cooperatives or suppliers to large supermarket brands control much of the vineyard land. In 2013, I tasted wines from just over 175 estates in the Rheinhessen, searching for the most dynamic producers in undiscovered villages that even few Germans know about. In addition to the eight estates portrayed here, who together bottled some of the finest dry Rieslings of the vintage in Germany, another dozen deserve mention, two or three of whom—especially Felix Peters from Sankt Antony in Nierstein—made wines as good as some of their better-known peers this year and probably deserve more coverage. These include Becker-Landgraf, Bischel, Michael Gutzler, Jürgen Hoffmann, Eric and Erich Manz, Erik Riffel, Seehof, Rudolf Thörle, Stefan Winter and Volker Raumland

The 2013 Vintage: Sometimes a lesser vintage heralds a change in perspective. For years the producers in Rheinhessen did everything possible to achieve maximum levels of ripeness. Today, many of the area’s better estates are prioritizing balance and lightness over power. Big is apparently no longer better.

Although the summer was comparatively warm, late September and early October were cool with scattered showers. This prompted many of the better estates to begin harvesting their Riesling in early October. “We were very patient,” says Klaus-Peter Keller, “trying to make the best out of a difficult vintage.” However, as major storms began to sweep through the vineyards, he became uncertain that patience had been the best strategy.

As weather conditions improved in late October, producers who waited to harvest began to cheer. “The only problem,” stated Jochen Dreissigacker, “was that yields were 30% lower than they had been two weeks earlier.” Like Klaus-Peter Keller, Dreissigacker has decided to delay the release of his finest dry Rieslings until May of 2015 in order to give them sufficient time to mature in bottle.

Like many of his colleagues, Philipp Wittmann in Westhofen compares the vintage to 2008 and 2004, the wines from which he says “are still refreshingly elegant and evolving quite nicely.” One major problem with 2013, however, is that many producers both over cropped their vineyards and harvested early, thereby producing the volumes required to support their price points while avoiding the risks of a later harvest. How these wines will evolve remains to be seen, but as Hans-Oliver Spanier from Battenfeld-Spanier states: “2013 will be remembered as a cool vintage with a late harvest, ripe grapes and only moderate levels of alcohol - a welcome change after the more fleshy 2011s and 2009s.”

Producers covered: Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier, Weingut Dreissigacker, Weingut Gunderloch, Weingut Keller, Weingut Kuhling-Gillot, Weingut Schätzel, Weingut Wagner-Stempel and Weingut Wittmann

View from the Brudersberg above Nierstein on the Rhine, Rheinhessen

Pfalz – An Overview

At 23,400 hectares in size, the Pfalz is Germany's second-largest wine-growing region. Although Pinot Noir from certain estates can be excellent, the centrally located Mittelhaardt is better known for its dry Rieslings, produced in an almost Alsatian style. With nearly 12,500 acres dedicated to the grape, the Pfalz can now boast the most extensive plantings of Riesling in the world, surpassing even the Mosel. Few consumers realize that almost 40% of the Pfalz’s vineyards are now planted with red grapes, and that Pinot Noir from the southern part of the region near the Alsatian border can be exceptional.

The 2013 Vintage: Depending on where you go in the Pfalz, you will encounter either smiles or frowns when discussing the 2013 vintage. Towards the south, near Alsace, you’ll see mostly the latter. The cool spring and delayed flowering got the vintage off to a late start. In order to guarantee a healthy crop, the growers knew they would need a sunny August and prolonged autumn warmth.

While the summer largely cooperated, the autumn did not. Rain followed by a warm October forced growers to rush through harvest in order to avoid rot. The epicenter of precipitation was near Birkweiler and Siebeldingen, where 25 centimeters of rain fell over the five-week period before and during crush. Once they were finished with sorting, even the most careful, attentive producers were left with only a half of a normal crop. Franz Wehrheim in Birkweiler summed up the situation rather succinctly: “We were able to make wines that I am more than proud to show, but it was a lot of work for very little volume. I hope I don’t see another harvest like this anytime soon.”

Wehrheim’s neighbor in Siebeldingen, Hansjörg Rebholz, struggled with the vintage. Known for taking risks, he harvested his Kastanienbusch plots of Riesling a few days later than Wehrheim. “There was so much botrytis that I decided to make only an Auslese,” he said, making it clear that this would not have been his first choice. While the wine is beyond reproach, he has a cult following for dry Grosses Gewächs from that site. “There will not be any in 2013,” he added. There were no tears in his eyes, but the economic consequences are clear.

In the north, close to the Rheinhessen the situation was quite different. Here, it was noticeably drier than elsewhere in Germany, so the majority of estates faced less disease pressure and an easier harvest. Deidesheim only received around a third of the rainfall that struck Birkweiler. “While it was not the free ride that we enjoyed in 2012, most of the rain came at just the right time,” noted Stephan Attmann from the von Winning Estate.

Steffen Christmann in neighboring Gimmeldingen – and current president of the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP) – felt almost guilty when discussing the vintage. “I know that many of my colleagues had a rough go this year, but 2013 was almost perfect for me.” Indeed, his Rieslings show a precision and clarity that they have not always had over the past few vintages. Not only that, he brought home normal yields.

Producers covered: Weingut Geheimer Rat Dr. von Bassermann-Jordan, Weingut Friedrich Becker, Weingut Dr. Bürklin-Wolf, Weingut Reichsrat von Buhl, Weingut A. Christmann, Weingut Knipser, Weingut Koehler-Ruprecht, Weingut Kranz, Weingut Philipp Kuhn, Weingut Georg Mosbacher, Weingut Müller-Catoir, Weingut Pfeffingen, Weingut Ökonomierat Rebholz, Weingut Rings, Weingut Siener, Weingut Dr. Wehrheim and Weingut von Winning

Barrel Cellar at Dr. Bürklin-Wolf, Pfalz

Baden – An Overview

Baden is Germany’s third-largest wine-growing region, encompassing almost 16,000 hectares of vineyards. It is also the most popular on the domestic market. As the country’s most southerly wine region, Baden is climatically on par with Alsace and Burgundy. As such, the must weights tend to be higher and the wines more full-bodied than elsewhere in Germany. Baden is also a sizeable region, stretching along the Rhine for some 400 kilometers from Heidelberg in the north down toward Switzerland. Its expanse is divided into nine sub-regions, of which Ortenau and Kaiserstuhl are the most famous, and features a patchwork of different microclimates and soils.

Ortenau occupies the northern part of Baden, and its old spa town Baden-Baden sits across the Rhine River from Strasbourg. Unsurprisingly, Ortenau’s wines are often reminiscent of those from the neighboring Alsace and Pfalz regions. The landscape, however, differs in that it is characterized by narrower valleys and steeper slopes, and is protected to the east by the Black Forest. Dry Riesling is king here. The Kaiserstuhl, or Emperor’s Seat, lies further to the south, just west of Freiburg along the volcanic hills whose formation altered the flow of the Rhine valley eons ago. Many of Germany’s finest Weissburgunders, Grauburgunders and Spätburgunder are made here. Incidentally, German consumers often favor the Rieslings of Kaiserstuhl over more renowned examples from the Mosel. Further south is the Markgräflerland. This region was long been considered a backwater, and a source of easy-to-drink white wines, but its image, has risen over the past decade.

Few consumers associate Germany with red wine, but global warming may change that, as regions such as Baden become more consistently able to ripen red grapes. Indeed, over one-third of this large region is planted with Pinot Noir, so it has the potential to become a major player. Already Baden produces more Pinot Noir than either California or Oregon individually, and more than Australia and New Zealand combined.

The 2013 Vintage: Two thousand thirteen was the second difficult vintage in a row for much of the Baden, with crop levels at 20% to 30% below average. Sporadic budding was followed by delayed flowering ten days to two weeks later than normal. Producers such as Joachim Heger in Ihringen, however, were unfazed. “We always achieve sufficient levels of ripeness,” he said. “What we occasionally lack is enough refreshing acidity to keep our wines lively.” His 2013s are beyond reproach.

Not everyone fared so well, however. Odd weather patterns and a race to finish harvesting before the rain led to an unusually small crop of Prädikatswein (Kabinett, Spätlese, Ausele, etc). Many of the estates that did manage to produce excellent white wines, made only half as much as normal, including Heitlinger, Staufenberg and Martin Wassmer.

For Pinot Noir, 2012 was a somewhat cooler vintage, resulting in wines with perhaps less depth but more charm than seen in riper years. In a region that prides itself on abundant sunshine, the nuances are often more a question of style than absolute quality. That said, I remain a great admirer of the Pinot Noirs from the cooler 2010 vintage.

Producers covered: Weingut Dr. Heger, Weingut Bernhard Huber and Weingut Reinhold and Cornelia Schneider

View of the terraced vineyards on the Kaiserstuhl in Baden

Württemberg – An Overview

With almost 11,500 hectares of vineyard, Württemberg is the fourth largest growing region in Germany, boasting considerably more area under vine than the better-known Mosel, Rheingau or Nahe. Württemberg is best known for its red wines, as 71% of its vineyards are planted with red varieties. 2011, 2009 and 2005 are the benchmarks vintages for the region’s reds, though the 2012s are both charming and refreshingly drinkable. Lemberger, known as Blaufränkisch in Austria, is considered the noblest red grape in Württemberg, though it is often blended with small amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon and/or Merlot. Interestingly, Pinot Noir has also begun to emerge as a serious variety in the area.

Travelers who visit Stuttgart or the Black Forest will certainly find Trollinger by the glass at all local restaurants. Trollinger, also known as Vernatsch in Italty’s Alto Adige, is sold as a red wine though it seldom has more color than a Tavel Rosé. While enjoyable with some of the local dishes, the variety holds no higher aspirations. Merlot has recently staked a claim in the region, with a number of insipid wines sold at comparatively high prices. Each year, more than 75% of Württemberg’s production is bottled by local cooperatives, five of which account for over half of the total volume.

The 2013 Vintage: Given Württemberg’s location along the Neckar east of the Rhine, vintages here can be quite different than those in the better-known areas to the west, while vintage variation is often not as pronounced as it is elsewhere. Over the past decade, white wine quality has been good but seldom exceptional, with 2008 and 2006 representing the best and the worst, respectively. 2013 was certainly challenging, and as few producers took the risk to harvest late and sort out the botrytis, many of the region’s Rieslings are marked by a slightly phenolic herbal quality.

Producers covered: Weingut Gerhard Aldinger, Weingut des Grafen Neipperg and Weingut Rainer Schnaitmann

Vineyards above the Enz in Besigheim, Württemberg

Franken – An Overview

Until 1964, Sylvaner was Germany’s most widely planted grape variety. Today, it’s primary home is in Franken (Franconia), the only winegrowing region in Bavaria, a state otherwise better known for its beer. Franken’s 6,100 hectares of vineyards are located mainly on southern slopes above the River Main, and enjoy an extremely continental climate with hot, dry summers and cold winters. The heart of the region is the majestic old city of Würzburg, where the vines flourish on shell limestone soils. Once known far beyond the border, Franken’s wines are now mostly consumed near where they are grown. In a letter he wrote to his wife in 1816, Goethe evoked a sentiment that the producers here would like to see in today’s headlines: “Send me some more Würzburg wine, I cannot develop a taste for any other.” Sylvaner’s modern-day reputation is a bit more mixed, although the grape appears to be enjoying a bit of a Renaissance of late.

The 2013 Vintage: Because of the late flowering and early autumn rains, many observers had written off Franken’s 2013s before harvest had even started. However, in the right hands, Sylvaner was able to shrug off the inclement conditions and put its best foot forward, while Riesling was generally less successful. Though none of the wines show the richness or depth of the 2012s, the best examples are bright and pure, shining more by structure and depth than by brawn. “I like the 2013s because they display a crisp elegance that the 2012s did not have,” claims Paul Fürst from Bürgstadt, on the western fringes of the region.

Producer covered: Weingut Rudolf Fürst

View of the Schlossberg in Castell, Franken

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Multimedia: Hansjörg Rebholz on the 2014 Vintage in Pfalz (Mar 2015)
Multimedia: Klaus-Peter Keller, Rheinhessen (Feb 2015)

Photograph & map credit: German Wine Institute

-- Joel Payne

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