Rheinhessen 2017: Perseverance Rewarded

BY DAVID SCHILDKNECHT | JULY 02, 2019

Rheinhessen Riesling vines that escaped devastation by late April frost and a savage August 25 hailstorm were still exposed to punishing May-July drought. But growers soldiered on and, with help from subsequent meteorological breaks, were rewarded with impressive results.

Since 2010, Oliver Spanier's Riesling from Am Schwarzen Herrgott (among Germany's earliest recorded vineyard sites, named for its prominent wooden crucifix) has profoundly demonstrated the viticultural potential of southwestern Rheinhessen's Pfrimm Valley, which funnels cool air from the 2,250-foot-high Donnersberg less than 10 miles distant.

While Rheinhessen, like the rest of Riesling Germany, benefited from January temperatures low enough to kill off larvae and spores of pests and send the vines into proper dormancy, that didn’t last for long. Rheinhessen vineyards, along with those of the Pfalz, set the subsequent pace for one of the most precocious growing seasons in memory. From March 20-21, for example, Daniel Wagner reported an average of 10 hours’ sunshine per day and temperatures that never dipped below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, resulting in the earliest bud-break ever recorded in “Rheinhessen Switzerland.” And then, just as in the immediately adjacent Nahe, late April frost – with temperatures as low as 19 degrees Fahrenheit – devastated his sector’s vine shoots. Yet even after such a shock, plant growth in most affected vineyards soon resumed its progress. Ripening generally accelerated during the extremely warm, dry midsummer, though in some especially sun-exposed and less water-retentive sites – such as those on Nackenheim and Nierstein’s steepest slopes – vines sporadically shut down.