EN 
DE 
Wiesbaden. Winegrowers in Germany expect a significantly better wine harvest in 2023 than in the previous year. The harvest volume is expected to be almost 9.9 million hectoliters of wine must, 9.1 percent more than the year before, the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden announced on Monday. A sufficient water supply almost everywhere and no major storm damage are cited by the statisticians as the reason. The downy mildew (Peronospora) was only regionally stronger occurred. The estimated harvest volume is also above the average of 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 be harvested in the largest growing regions of Rheinhessen (2.75 million hectoliters) and Pfalz (2.53 million hectoliters). A quarter will be harvested in Baden (1.38 million hectoliters) and Württemberg (1.11 million hectoliters). The remainder is distributed among the other nine growing regions.
Significant percentage increases in harvest volumes are expected in the regions of Mosel, Württemberg, Pfalz and Rheinhessen, which are large in terms of area. However, smaller growing regions such as the Ahr, the Middle Rhine and Saxony also reported considerable increases. In the growing regions of Baden, Saale-Unstrut, Nahe and Franconia, on the other hand, the increase is rather small. And in the Rheingau, winegrowers even had to accept slight losses (minus 1.7 percent).
The harvest volume of Germany's most popular grape variety, Riesling, is expected to increase by almost 17 percent year on year to 2.19 million hectoliters. There will also be increases in the second and third most important white grape varieties in terms of volume, Müller-Thurgau and Grauer Burgunder.
The harvest volume of the red grape variety Blauer Spätburgunder also increases significantly, by almost six percent to 1.02 million hectoliters, while Dornfelder remains roughly at the previous year's level. (dpa)
