Multifarious 2017 Mosels, Part 1: Winningen to Wehlen

BY DAVID SCHILDKNECHT | JANUARY 23, 2020

The broad outlines of 2017 on the Mosel and Ruwer are already familiar from my earlier reports on Riesling Germany in this vintage. A turbocharged spring rendered vines vulnerable to the hard, widespread April 20 frost that was especially severe in many Mosel vineyards, killing up to half of the precocious buds. The weather then turned dry and warm, quickly compensating for any time the vines had lost in recovering from the shock of frost and setting the growing season back on the fast track. A midsummer drought and heat wave were broken by the arrival of rain at the end of July, and significant August precipitation was generally welcomed (though some sectors and growers reported that it triggered an irritating outbreak of powdery mildew). Unfortunately, in Graach and around Traben Trarbach, August 1 brought damaging hail.

Given a small crop in nearly all vineyards – even in sites spared by frost and hail, the set had been small to begin with – sugars began accumulating at a precocious and accelerating pace. By early September, most sites had received more than enough rain, but rain continued. Where frost and hail had taken an especially hard toll, the small number of bunches meant that if vines began pumping water, berries weren’t going to resist the pressure for long and would begin splitting. Where this happened, unwanted botrytis appeared early, although cool September temperatures helped limit its spread. Given high must weights and an already punishingly tiny crop threatened by rot, most Mosel growers set all-time records (though these would be shattered in 2018) by commencing their 2017 Riesling harvest in the third or fourth week of September. Many also set speed records – Stefan Justen spoke of a “head-over-heels harvest” – in order to minimize the threat from ignoble botrytis. 

The equally iconic Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Weingut Joh. Jos. Prüm teamed up for some of 2017's most memorable Mosel Rieslings. Their offerings from adjacent Zeltinger Sonnenuhr and Graacher Himmelreich - as well as those of Markus Molitor - were no less stunning.

Caught Between Rot Risk and Hard Acidity

Acid levels in 2017 fruit remained high throughout harvest, but were naturally especially prominent where picking took place in September. As I have noted in several recent reports, it begins to look as though the phenomenon of high acidity in years that are nonetheless precociously ripe and feature hot summers correlates with vines having reacted to dry early spring weather by making metabolic adjustments conducive to drought tolerance. Of course, extreme drought stress can cause vines to shut down, which blocks both sugar accumulation and acid respiration. And shutdown was a factor in 2017 in at least some Mosel vineyards, notably ones with young vines. But the factors most conducive to high acid retention were the cool September temperatures and early picking dates. “If malic acidity is going to dissipate and total acid levels to drop, then it is going to happen in September,” observed Daniel Vollenweider, “and that is precisely when we got rain and cool weather in 2017.” High must weights with high acidity can be a welcome combination – “To me it’s the special liveliness [Lebendigkeit] of the acidity that constitutes this vintage’s most attractive feature,” avers veteran Dr. Loosen cellarmaster and vineyard manager Bernard Schug – but the combination is unwelcome if the acids are hard-edged and the grapes lack the desired aromatic and flavor evolution.

In the most problematic instances, what got picked early exhibits shrill acidity and borderline ripeness – especially if any bunches that originated with second budding after the frost were not left hanging for later – while what got picked later tastes significantly riper but not perfectly clean. Factors correlated with vine genetics, such as weight and looseness of clusters, were significant in determining how well the fruit resisted rain. But root depth – a function of vine age and viticultural practices – was certainly also significant, since shallow roots conduce to pumping water. Where things worked out well, ample ripeness is combined with bracing, even exhilarating acidity, and any botrytis that made it to the press house has had an ennobling effect.  Depending on local conditions, growers’ intentions and the skill with which their crews were able to select, there are numerous nobly sweet Rieslings at many Mosel addresses, albeit in tiny quantities. Some of the vintage’s TBAs issued from musts so elevated in sugar that they were still fermenting their way toward legal vinosity when I returned in September 2019 to begin assessing wines of vintage 2018.  

Biodynamic pioneer and stylistic maverick Thorsten Melsheimer showing an outstanding and, as usual, highly diverse collection at the end of October 2018, soon after many of them had been bottled.