Early goings on, but:
I got some analytical data from the Neustadt viticultural college and it supports what we’ve seen so far this year: Must weights and acidity are almost exactly on the ten-year-average for all vine varieties in both the Mittelhaardt and Südliche Weinstraße and below for some. After a warmish late winter and a cool spring (flowering was difficult for early-bloomers, but Riesling, Silvaner and Gewürz had better weather –almost nobody sprayed GIBB or Regalis), it has been a very cool summer. There haven’t been any unmanageable problems with peronospora or oidium. The final spray-date has come and gone and almost all of the vineyards that I have seen have been as healthy as anyone could hope for. Riesling is sitting now around 50-55 degrees Oe and Pinot Noir is a little higher. I don’t want to jinx anything, but it is shaping up to be quite the vintage. I don’t think that we’ll pick a grape before October this year and I fully expect to bring in some varieties (Weißburgunder/Pinot Blanc, Silvaner, and certainly some selections of Riesling) in late October and also November (like the good old days!)
I had already started harvesting last year at this time, so it could be said that we are easily a month or 5 weeks behind 2011 (AND I was in the south last year, which typically harvests a week or ten days after the Mittelhaardt) –and we are a couple of weeks behind 2010. In the Pfalz at least, it looks a lot like 2008 -which is great news. Keep your fingers crossed!
Cheers,
Bill