Vintage Chart for Germany

2018	***?	Prolonged drought in July and August left vineyards looking very dry, but crop of small, healthy berries promises intense wines. Producers are hopeful it will be a great vintage.
2017		Frost in April reduced yields. Harvest was earliest on record in Mosel and smallest for half a century. Rain was a problem for early-ripening varieties but less so for Riesling and Pinot Noir. The wines have high acidity, especially in the Nahe, but lots of flavor and character.
2016	**	Rain early in summer created disease pressure, but season improved after July, with hot dry August and September, giving elegant wines although with higher acidity and lower alcohol than usual. Rheingau did better than Mosel.
2015	***	The season was marked by a heat wave in August, but necessary rain arrived in September, and cleared before harvest. "Close to perfect," says Ernie Loosen. Dry wines are excellent and there was good botrytis later for sweet wines.
2014		The summer was cold and wet all across Germany, somewhat a repeat of 2013. Few wines were made above Spätlese grade. A warm preceding winter created problems with Spotted Wing Drosophila, which spoiled the harvest for reds.
2013		Late, cold winter and Spring followed by mild summer, but problems with rain through September and October often prevented the grapes from catching up and made it difficult to harvest before rot set in. Yields were low. Acidity is high for dry wines, but there were some good botrytized wines.
2012	**	Cool and wet during the season, but rescued by Indian summer. Dry Riesling is good, Pinot Noir perfumed well. Wines have good tension in classic style. The late conditions that favored dry wines resulted in very small yields of sweet wines.
2011	**	A very good vintage with normal yields after a roller coaster summer with hot Spring, frosts in May, hailstorms in August, and then a long Indian summer. Wines less acid than 2010. Not much botrytized wine.
2010	**	Conditions alternated between rain and heat, giving low yields. Botrytis started in September but long, dry, warm October allowed both dry wines and botrytized wines to be made. Wines are concentrated with high acidity. Dry wines have vibrant tension; sweet wines are richer and sweeter than usual at all grades.
2009	***	A top vintage all round, with good weather from August to October, dry but with necessary rain. Wines at all levels from trocken to botrytized have vibrancy and purity.
2008	*	Late season with cool autumn gave wines with high acidity. Few sweet wines. Mosel did better than Rheingau. Vintage is something of a throwback to the period before global warming, classic for wines at Kabinett level.

For older vintages see Germany or Vintages

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