News

The German 2017 wine harvest is headed toward an unseasonably early conclusion, with many estates already done before the end of September. Quality assessments range from good to very good, with the caveat that harvest volumes are relatively small.

The 69th German Wine Queen is named Katharina Staab, and hails from Oberhausen on the Nahe! She is joined in her reign by German Wine Princesses Charlotte Freiberger from the Hessische Bergstraße and Laura Lahm from Rheinhessen.

From 2018, the Study Programme for the prestigious Master of Wine (MW) title will also include one week in Germany. This follows an agreement between the German Wine Institute (DWI) and the Institute of Masters of Wine.

On the initiative of the German Wine Institute (DWI i.e. Wines of Germany), a new Riesling Lounge was opened on 21 September 2017 in the "Vintage Selection" wine bar in the trendy Munich Glockenbachviertel.

The 2017 wine auction weekend of The Prädikatsweingüter VDP (predicate wine estates) ended on september 17th with new price records. Auctions were exciting right from the start:

Besides France and the USA, Germany is the third biggest Pinot Noir producer worldwide. In a recent FT.com publication Jancis Robinson stresses German enthusiasm for their Spätburgunder, as Pinot Noir is known in Germany. However, she wonders why we don’t see huge quantities on export markets yet.

This year's main vintage commenced in Germany. Since grapes ripened unusually early, harvesting of Pinot, Müller-Thurgau, Dornfelder and in parts even Riesling grapes has already begun in many German winegrowing regions.

Events organized jointly by winegrowers and bakers - that's the goal! A group of experts from Wines of Germany (DWI) and the German Bread Institute now met at the German National Bakers Academy in Weinheim for an initial work session.

The process of structural change in the 13 German wine-growing areas has continued unabated in recent years. Referring to current data from the 'Statistische Bundesamt', Germany's Federal Statistical Office, Wines of Germany (DWI) states that the number of wine-growing estates declined by 17 per cent to 16.898 over the period 2010 to 2016.

On 16 August 2017, harvest for "Federweißer", the new fermenting wine of this year, officially started in Neustadt, Germany. The first grapes of Solaris, an early-maturing variety, had ripened well. In the coming days, harvest for the "new wine" will also start in the other wine-growing regions.