Little frost and hail and manageable pest infestation: French winemakers are expecting an excellent champagne vintage. The German colleagues are also optimistic.
According to French winemakers, the year 2023 will produce high-quality champagne. There was little frost and hail and manageable pest infestation, said the manufacturers’ association Comité Champagne.
After a dry winter, there were initially signs of a water shortage. The hot and unusually wet August then contributed to an extraordinary and unprecedented weight of the grapes. “These numerous and generous bunches will make it possible to select only those in perfect health,” said the federation’s vice-president, Maxime Toubart.
Processing of the grapes is strictly regulated
In the Champagne region northeast of Paris, the grape harvest has just begun on around 34,000 hectares of cultivated land. Over the next two to three weeks, more than 100,000 seasonal workers and harvest helpers will be on duty. The processing of the grapes is strictly regulated. For example, they may only be harvested by hand.
Last year around 326 million bottles of the fine sparkling wine were sold worldwide. This corresponds to a trading volume of over six billion euros. 12.2 million of the bottles were exported to Germany. Champagne can only be grown in certain areas of France.
German winegrowers are also expecting a good harvest
Winegrowers in Germany expect a significantly better wine harvest in 2023 than in the previous year. According to the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden, the harvest volume is expected to be almost 9.9 million hectoliters of wine must, 9.1 percent more than in the previous year. The statisticians cite an adequate water supply almost everywhere and no major storm damage as the reason. The downy mildew (Peronospora) only occurred more regionally. The estimated harvest volume is also above the average for the years 2017 to 2022 – by almost 1.2 million hectoliters or 13.3 percent.
More than half of the total wine harvest expected in Germany will again come from the largest wine-growing regions, Rheinhessen (2.75 million hectoliters) and Palatinate (2.53 million hectoliters). A quarter is harvested in Baden (1.38 million hectoliters) and Württemberg (1.11 million hectoliters). The rest is distributed among the other nine growing areas.
A lot is expected to be harvested here
Significant percentage increases in harvest volumes are expected in the Moselle, Württemberg, Palatinate and Rheinhessen regions, which are large in terms of area. However, smaller growing areas such as the Ahr, the Middle Rhine and Saxony also reported significant growth. In contrast, the plus is rather small in the growing regions of Baden, Saale-Unstrut, Nahe and Franconia. And in the Rheingau, the winegrowers even have to accept slight losses (minus 1.7 percent).
The harvest volume of the most popular German grape variety Riesling is expected to increase by almost 17 percent year-on-year to 2.19 million hectoliters. There was also growth in the second and third most important white grape varieties in terms of volume, Müller-Thurgau and Pinot Gris. The harvest volume of the red grape variety Blauer Spätburgunder also increased significantly, by almost six percent to 1.02 million hectolitres, while the Dornfelder remained roughly at the previous year’s level.
Source: Stern
