Doesn’t look like vintage is off to a good start. Seen IG posts from Martin Müllen, Von Schubert Maximin Grunhaus, and others showing significant frost damage to shoots 
Not good, but hopefully it’s not too bad. I’m under the impression that the vines/buds can withstand lower temperatures before the grapes arrive, so hopefully a lot of the vines are still OK.
Steinmetz also posted a distressing report.
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I saw they were concerned with low temps in Bordeaux but looks like they avoided frost. Sucks it hit Germany
The 2024 vintage was off to a great start in the Mosel. The vineyards have plenty of water from all the rain, but there is always a risk of spring frost until Ice Saints in mid-May. In the Saar region, this year’s frost damage is more severe than in 2019. It seems to be the same in the Ruwer. It will be a small harvest, to say the least.
But, from what I heard, many vineyards in the Mosel Valley fared much better due to the fog. The Ruwer and Saar are farther south but higher in elevation and cooler than the Middle and Lower Mosel.
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Leipold (Franken) was hit hard. So sad.
Maximin Grünhaus reported 100 percent frost damage. Many vineyards in the Saar were hit hard, too. When I went to work yesterday morning, the vines appeared to look good. I hoed in Euchariusberg, but by midday the severe frost damage became apparent.
How much do you think Falkenstein will be affected? Or too early to tell?
It looks bad, even the standing “frost canes,” not just the ones tied down, were affected by the frost. In 2019, we had certain lower-lying frost-prone hillside vineyards, such as the one below the press house, that had some frost damage, but we could at least tie down the second cane to make up for the loss. This year, we will have to see if any “sleeping buds” break out. There are a few parcels, like Meyer Nepal, that look pretty good, because they were protected by the cold winds.
Ooh! Ouch!
There’s no chance of new shoots growing at this point?
According to their Instagram post, there’s still a chance for “a tiny harvest.”
I’ve seen badly affected vines from Rioja to the Mosel /Rheinhessen and almost everywhere in between!
As I mentioned above, there is still hope that certain buds or even shoots survived the frost. In the case of Grünhaus, it’s one of the few disadvantages of having vineyards all in one location, and not just because of frost but because of hail.
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Just saw your IG post on Gisela
I’ve seen this before. The vines will certainly push new shoots, but it will take the vines a while to sort things out. The next shoots that come will not have many flower clusters on them… depending on variety, and with the delayed push, any crop set could be extremely late. Another real bummer is the vines are likely to push a crazy amount of suckery shoots from all up and down the trunk, making more hand work/shoot selection which are more dollars lost.
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Yes, I worked in Euchariusberg. The western half of our contiguous 2.5-hectare holding looks much better than the eastern half, which includes Mammen and Gisela. Even the untied “frost canes” have frost damage in this section of the slope.
The vineyards hardest hit by the frost are those at Falkenstein and in Niedermenniger Herrenberg and Sonnenberg. The frost damage is probably similar to that of Maximin Grünhaus.
Krettnacher Altenberg looks pretty good. I was told that Ockfener Bockstein and Ayler Kupp have extensive frost damage.
Yesterday, the local paper reported that the vineyards in and around Trier, including the Ruwer and Saar, have been ravaged by frost. The headline reads, “Frosty nights: a ‘complete disaster’ for winegrowers.”
I heard that the Middle Mosel was foggy and less affected by the frost than the cooler side valleys.
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Yup seems to have hit Europe on a pretty large scale sadly.
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Are growers generally prepared with tools to fight frost like water sprays, fans and heat sources? Or is this a rarity.
This is so tragic. I feel so bad for you and so many growers.
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Not really. Some producers, such as Dönnhoff, fight frost with fires for certain parcels.
If we don’t get any more frost this spring and can avoid hail and vineyard diseases, we should have some good grapes this year. But the yields will be much lower across the board. I told Johannes that such setbacks can also present opportunities. We might decide to streamline our selections and grub up frost-prone parcels below the press house sooner rather than later.
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