What lies in the casks waiting to be bottled almost seems like an attempt at reconciliation with the pain and hardships of 2024. Even if hopes of a generous harvest and some higher Prädikat wines were not fulfilled, the young Rieslings from the 2024 vintage are pure joy. Those youngsters are polished like sparkling diamonds, showing multi-layered flavors, while being finely detailed, slim, and tight, as well as playful and deep at the same time – they’re just fascinating!

But let’s start from the beginning. The first three months of 2024 were warmer than the long-term average. Generous rainfall until the end of May filled up the water reservoirs of our vineyards. As a result, vegetation started very early. We discovered swollen buds as early as mid-March. The first vines sprouted around April 10. This early start was responsible for the severity of the frost on April 22 and 23 that led to the total losses for some of our dear colleagues. In comparison, we were barely affected by the frost and “only” had severe frost damage in our higher-elevated plots in Himmelreich. On May 2, a hailstorm followed, along with strong rainfall. In some of our vineyards, we had extensive damage. But here, too, things could have been much worse – so we’d better not complain.

Flowering began in early June and lasted for more than three weeks due to the relatively cool weather. The staggered flowering and “shattering” – or dropping of flowers off the cluster, better known as coulure – already foreshadowed a challenging harvest and a low yield. As the water reservoirs of the vineyards were already filled up, June seemed to be wet, despite a bit less rain. The subsequent July was humid and warm, so the entire vegetation period was a real challenge in terms of viticulture, and we are very lucky that we managed this pretty well! A true relief was provided by a dry and warm August. The soils dried up, and the ripening process accelerated, at least for a while.

We started the harvest on September 23. The temperatures were relatively cool, and the ripening process slowed down again, allowing us to do a first selection in all of our vineyards. Due to the uneven ripeness and the necessary and precise selections of the healthy grapes, the harvest turned out to be very demanding. The diverse ripeness levels, made three passes through the vineyards necessary, at least in some plots. A well-trained eye, experience, and the willingness to taste many grapes were enormously important. We feel very blessed to have such an experienced and faithful harvest team, doing their very best, year after year, for our family winery.

Fermentation then went smoothly and quickly. The result is a classic, elegant vintage with polished acidity, enormous energy, finesse, and fresh-fruity aromas. The vintage produced a Graacher trocken (dry) and feinherb (almost dry), Kabinett wines from all three grand crus, as well as a cask of Domprobst Spätlese. We will be offering a very small quantity of Himmelreich Spätlese and a particularly special Domprobst Kabinett at the auction in Trier. Unfortunately, 2024 did not bring us any Auslesen or Grosse Gewächse (GGs).

Graach, February 2025