2022 Mosel-Saar-Ruwer: Old Vines and Steep Challenges

BY ANNE KREBIEHL MW | OCTOBER 26, 2023

“Challenging” is the one word that sums up the 2022 vintage in Mosel, Saar and Ruwer. These three river valleys used to be the most marginal in Germany’s former cool climate. In 2022, however, water stress was a challenge posed by the topography and geology that once enabled the slow ripening of Riesling. The lack of water, caused by the well-drained steep slate slopes and the dry summer, impacted the vegetation significantly and necessitated careful sorting at harvest.  The best estates were able to make very good and even outstanding wines marked by moderate alcohol levels and freshness. This came down to three things: the resilience of deep-rooting old Riesling vines, the ingenuity of Riesling’s ability to self-regulate its metabolism and sorting at harvest.

Looking downstream towards Graach from high up in the Bernkastel vineyards.

The Dry and Hot Summer

The German Wine Institute’s annual regional summary is blunt: “With July temperatures up to 40°C and a water deficit of up to 240 liters per square meter, summer was relentless in the Mosel, so characterized by steep slate slopes.” The one advantage of the dry heat was little disease pressure throughout summer, and weeds often withered of their own accord. Rains arrived in September and provided both welcome respite after an unprecedentedly dry summer but also spelled fears of splitting grapes, especially in the warmer Terrassenmosel. Further rain in October meant that the remaining harvest had to be swift.

Two thousand and twenty-two was a year that did see much botrytis development. Only one estate I visited harvested a Trockenbeerenauslese, and only two harvested Beerenauslese, while a handful harvested Auslesen, which in 2022 are less marked by botrytis. This meant that winemakers could show their mettle with Kabinett and Spätlese, pulling off thrilling wines with vivid acidity. The dry wines offer much pleasure, showing the broad stylistic spectrum in which Mosel, Saar and Ruwer wines are made while still bearing their unmistakable regional signature.

A Hair-Raising Year with Late Relief

The always frank Erni Loosen in the Mittelmosel, in typically emphatic fashion, assessed the vintage: “Two thousand and twenty-two was as hot as anywhere else. Theoretically, we thought it might be a catastrophe – and for the young vines, it was indeed a catastrophe.” Thomas Haag at Schloss Lieser, also in the Mittelmosel, put forward an equally candid analysis: “One thing is clear: it was the driest summer ever. It was extreme, and thank heavens there was a weather change in September, cooler nights, cooler days, and three rain days over three weeks.” Oliver Haag of Weingut Fritz Haag in Brauneberg noted: “It was really important in 2022 to reduce yields. There was the fear that it [the dryness] would be too much, so we sacrificed yields, and in late July and early August, we decided to cut fruit. It was a hot game of poker. Had there been rain, it would have been really bad.”

Peter Griebeler of Weingut Heinrichshof in Zeltingen observed: “In the end, we harvested Riesling from mid to end of October because it turned cool. The rain came around 10 September and rescued us. The weather turned completely. In a way, it was too hot, so things stopped happening in summer, but in the last quarter of the vegetative period, it turned cool and rainy and somehow, things were arrested. The grapes continued synthesizing aromas; the berries went from green to yellow, but the must weights stayed where they were. We had three very difficult years, but the one thing we did not have was overripeness: neither in 2020, 2021 or 2022. Riesling, with its late ripening, relativized things. This is not something we expected with this hot, dry summer.”

Thomas Haag noted that rain, when it finally arrived in the Mittelmosel, was not a problem: “Nothing split [referring to the grape skins], and you could taste it. After the rain, the grapes did not really accumulate sugar but continued developing physiological ripeness. That was just perfect. This is how we have this relative lightness in the wines.” Relief came a little earlier in the Ruwer where Maximin von Schubert at Maximin Grünhaus said: “I expected a dry-stressed year, but then, late in August, a refreshing rain came and clarity and freshness were preserved, that had not been expected at all. The vegetation had indeed stopped, but with the rain, everything continued. This is how we had ripe but fine acidity without the must weights climbing any higher.”