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Local wine grape harvest comes to an end

  • Published
  • By Iris Reiff
  • 52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SPANGADHLEM AIR BASE, Germany --  Over the past weeks, visitors to the Mosel area were able to see many trucks and tractors parked on the steep Mosel wine slopes, where people work hard to harvest wine grapes.

Wine growers work year-round toward the harvest of wine grapes, which normally begins the end of September along the Mosel, Saar and Ruwer rivers, sometimes lasting all the way until November.

Typically, the early maturing types of grapes or such as Ortega or Müller-Thurgau, are harvested first. Then, the Elbling and Burgundy grapes will follow. Last but not least, the harvest of the famous Riesling grape, growing in the steeper locations in the Mosel, Saar and Ruwer valleys, kicks off the beginning of October. It is the changing weather, with chilly nights and sunny days in fall that determines the quality of the grape and the time for the harvest.

According to a local Mosel vintner, this year's harvest was delayed by several weeks due to the many sunny days and rain this summer. Along the Mosel, vintners first harvested the Mueller Thurgau grape and recently finished the Riesling grape harvest.

This year, the quality of the Mueller Thurgau will be fine and the Riesling grape wine can possibly be compared to last year's quality. Overall the quality of this year's wine will be good, but the quantity will be small.

Many factors determine the amount and quality of the grapes as well as the time of the vine harvest. While the fruit juice weight still rises and the fruit acid still breaks up in the grapes, the grapes continues to become more and more aromatic with time if the climate is good.

An important indicator for the ripeness of the grapes is the fructose content, which is measured in degree of "Oechsle." In fall, the winegrowers begin to measure the content of sugar in the grapes to be able to keep track of the grape development. The sugar converted with fermenting the fruit juice into alcohol is a graduation for the maturity of the grapes, and the fruit juice weight is expressed in degrees of "Oechslegraden." The name of this unit refers to the chemist, goldsmith and physicist Ferdinand Oechsle (1774-1852) who lived in Pforzheim.

The more favorable the climate, the higher the ripeness of the grape, and, the later the harvest, the higher the fruit juice weights are ... this is important to build the more substantial wines.

But the natural content of sugar isn't the only vital thing. To be able to generate ripe, harmonious wines, the winegrower must wait for the physiological maturity of the grapes.

Therefore, many winegrowers taste their grapes regularly in fall -- besides measuring the fruit juice weight -- to determine if the quality is optimum. As a rule, the vines are perfect when the grape cores become brown and easily come off the flesh.

Along the steep slopes of the Mosel area, a selective harvest is frequent. The grapes or berries are often harvested by their degree of ripeness in several harvest passageways and are sorted. The amount of work involved is high, but thus differentiated wine qualities and wine styles can be generated. Thus, overripe or decayed grapes are often first "selected," the healthy grapes still remain in the "Rebstock" vine to mature further and then are selected only days or sometimes even weeks later.

For the production of high quality dry and fine-harsh wines, only the healthy, full-ripe product is used. Berries, which are dried up or which come from the noble rot "Botrytis" struck are used for the production of the more aromatic, natural sweet wines.

The degree of ripeness of the grapes can be decided in the vineyard and determines how the wines are being offered later. In Germany, the system of the predicate wines offers to the producers the possibility to classify high-quality wines only on account of the natural fructose available in the grapes.

The predicate, cabinet and late vintage wines, Auslese or wine of selected grapes, dry wine of selected grapes, ice wine - are an expression of a differentiated vintage culture which has developed in the German wine growing regions, to include the Mosel area.

Quality steps

One distinguishes ordinary table wine, quality-tested wine of certain cultivation areas (B.A.) and predicate wines. According to group, the wines fulfill different legal minimum requirements. Thus, the source fruit juice weights and the natural degree of ripeness of a particular group may be higher.

Ordinary table wines

Ordinary table wines are decent pint wines typical for the scenery and surrounding area they come from.

Quality-tested wines of certain cultivation areas

Quality-tested wines of certain cultivation areas are wines typical for a specific area for everyday pleasure that are tested by specific criteria. They originate from specific growing areas and only specific types of grapes. They are categorized by their degree of ripeness of the grapes (least fruit juice weight) and by their origin.




Predicate wines

These wines are divided into the high-class steps cabinet, late vintage wine, selection, wine of selected grapes, dry wine of selected grapes and ice wine. They all have in common that they are fermented only from their natural fructose of the harvested grapes. For every predicate, a minimum fruit juice weight is dictated by law. The single predicates can be awarded only if the wines show in the flavorful examination for every year and the suitable types of wine and origin to typical high-class signs.

The quality-tested wines may be called the predicates only on the etiquettes after passing an official quality inspection, awarded with an exam number.

Ice wines

Ice wine means that the grapes must be harvested and squeezed in a frozen state. For this reason, the winegrower leaves healthy grapes, which meet the criteria of the late vintage wine quality or "Spaetlese" on the vine, protected by nets against wild animals. Then, the grapes must completely freeze until they are solid with a temperature of less than -7 degrees centigrade. Of course, the ice vine harvest is always a risk, because nobody knows whether it becomes cold enough and if wild boars and birds may eat the grapes. The colder it is at the reading time, the better the ice wine turns out. Since the cold makes the water in the grapes freeze, all the other ingredients, like fructose and fruit acid become concentrated. The frozen water stays behind as an ice on the wine press and does not reach into the fruit juice. The wine is very sweet and intense in the taste, the alcoholic content often lies only with 6 or 7 percent by volume. Riesling ice wines can be stored for decades thanks to their high natural sweetness and natural acids.

High-class steps

One distinguishes ordinary table wine, quality-tested wine of certain cultivation areas (B.A.) and predicate wines. According to group the wines fulfill different legal minimum requirements. Thus, e.g., the source fruit juice weights and the natural degree of ripeness of group to group become higher. Topically (summer, 2011) is discussed in the German wine economy a change of the wine names. Beside in the German wine law of 1971 to agreed default there will be probably in future also a classification of the wines according to their geographical origin like and meeting the Romanesque wine standards.

Wine denominations

Since 1971, the label indicates clearly the quality category. Denominations, which are indicated on wine bottles and their characteristics are:
Spaetlese: Wine made from grapes picked after the completion of the normal harvest, giving special bouquet and fruitiness.
Kabinett: The elegant nature wine harvested during the general vintage time, usually October. This wine is great to go with a meal since it is a little dryer than the Spaetlese wine.

Auslese: The ripest bunches of grapes are individually selected, picked and pressed. These grapes produce noble wines for great occasions.
Beerenauslese: Wine, made from over-ripe but sound berries selected from each bunch of grapes. This is a very noble wine.
Trockenbeerenauslese: The most precious wine made from a special selection of over-ripe raisin-like grapes. The richest,sweetest and finest wine of all.
Eiswein: Ice wine, made from vintage grapes harvested in a special way tastes delicious, according to many wine lovers.


Wine bottles should always be stored horizontally in a cold place, ideally in a cool basement, so the bottle corks can be kept moist and air-tight. Also, if the word "Natur" appears on the label, it indicates no sugar was added to the wine.

The Mosel wine region

The Mosel region is the oldest wine region of Germany and one of the classical European wine-growing regions. The vines in the river valleys are planted tight; the Steillagen or slopes are known to grow some of the finest, predominantly sweeter wines in the world.

When it comes to wine, an important thing to remember is the region where the grapes are grown. In the case of Mosel wines, labels read "Mosel-Saar-Ruwer," indicating the grapes were grown on the Mosel or in the smaller side valley regions of the Saar and Ruwer rivers, where the Riesling wine flourishes.

It is in the Mosel, Saar and Ruwer river areas where the Celts and Romans cultivated their wine 2,000 years ago. Countless findings of several winepress arrangements from the antiquity, testify from the big wine-growing tradition in the European valley of the Mosel. The oldest town of Germany with eight Unesco-world cultural heritage sites is the capital of the Mosel region: Trier, once capital of the Roman Empire and residence of Emperor Konstantin.

Today, more than 4,000 wine-growing companies in 125 winegrower places manage approximately 60 million Rebstöcke or vines on about 9,000 hectares of vineyard surface along the 243-kilometer-long Mosel river.
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