1997 vintage reports

Mosel-Saar-Ruwer region

Konrad Hähn of Weingut Freiherr von Schleinitz of the lower Mosel valley grows 97% Riesling and reports the 1997 vintage to be very satisfactory in quality with a fair amount of yield.
Even though the spring frost didn't hurt the Riesling in the warm terraced areas, it did diminish the harvest in other vineyard sites and especially in vineyard sites planted with other varieties than Riesling.
A wonderful sunny dry fall allowed the Riesling grapes to ripen to a high degree. The quality is very high, especially in the vineyards, which have suffered from the water shortage in the summer, producing highly concentrated grapes.
The high ripeness of the Riesling grapes shows in a low acidity level. We expect aromatic, fruity wines, which will reach a harmonic taste early and are therefore meant to be drunk young.

Mrs. Reh-Gartner of Weingut Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt located in Trier reports the beginning of the harvest October 20, 1997 going through November 15, 1997. The vineyards of the estate are distributed throughout the region. The average yield was 53 hl/ha (80 hl/ha in the Mosel Valley, 42 hl/ha in Saar and Ruwer Valley).
In April, at budbreak it looked promising but the late frost in May destroyed up to 70% of the young shoots, especially in the vineyards of the Saar and Ruwer Valley.

The flowering was perfect in the Mosel valley but the other areas had periods of bad weather washing out some of the flowering, reducing the yield again. The weather in the fall was excellent and led to a high ripeness level, and the healthiness of the crop allowed us to pick fairly late to prolong the ripening time on the vines.
Even though the yield was very low, the high quality made up for it and the wines promise to develop an intense fruit aroma. The vintage might be comparable to the good 1975 vintage.

Raimund Prüm of Weingut S.A. Prüm also reports a great vintage. The top vineyard sites with Riesling had very little problems with frost in late spring and drought in the summer. The Wehlener Sonnenuhr was stressed more that the Graacher Himmelreich which has several aquifers running through.
The harvest extended from October 20 to November 14 due to a few days of interruption after rainy days to let the crop dry up. The Wehlener Sonnenuhr had good quality and quantity. Only the Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc) did poorly.

The average yield was 70 hl/ha and the Riesling was all of Kabinett Quality and above. All quality-wines (QbA) in 1997 are declassified Kabinett wines. Through extensive selection while harvesting we were able to even produce a Long-Gold-Cap Auslese and a Beerenauslese. Despite the small quantity we are excited about the quality and the fine fruit aromas in the young wines which display a fine balanced acidity.

Johannes Selbach of Weingut Selbach Oster began harvest on October 23rd and finished November 10th, leaving only a few parcels hanging hoping to make Eiswein.

Most of the grapes were picked under perfect conditions, i.e. dry and sunny days and cool nights. Some rain in mid November caused a little pause but didn't harm. The grapes were ripe, very juicy and healthy with some botrytis only arriving at the beginning of November. The major part of the harvest was of higher quality, i.e. Spätlese and Auslese. The acidity was rounder and softer than in the previous three years more like '92 or '89. The young wines express attractive, slightly spicy fruit aromas with an underlying gentle acidity. They seem to be very elegant, delicate wines with great early appeal, posing quite a contrast to their very crisp predecessors. Overall, we are happy to have a full crop and one of very fine quality.

Check out the other great estates of the Mosel valley hosted on VinoNet:
Weingut Freiherr von Heddesdorff
Weingut Heribert Kerpen

Pfalz region

Mrs. Bippus-Darting of Weingut Kurt Darting reports that the harvest of 1997 is strongly influenced by the severe weather changes throughout the year. The 1996/1997 winter was very cold and succeded by a friendly almost warm spring. Unfortunately, during the last week of April and the first week of May, late frost hit and destroyed entire parcels of vineyards. Most severely damaged were the red varieties like Dornfelder, Pinot Noir and Portugieser.
The summer was cool and wet, which slowed dowm the ripening but supplied water for growth. The grapes were able to catch up and ripened nicely in the nice warm late summer and early fall lasting until October.
The quality of the grapes harvested was excellent. The acidity levels were lower than in 1996 and the good results in Riesling compensated for the losses encountered by the red varieties. The harvest was finished at the beginning of November while a few parcels were still hanging to await possible frost to make Eiswein based on Muskateller, Scheurebe or Chardonnay.