Dr. DIRK RICHTER´S 2002 VINTAGE REPORT

In the valleys of Mosel-Saar-Ruwer persistent rain throughout the harvest drove the winegrowers to distraction! There was hardly a day in which they did not have to look at the sky to anticipate the rare interludes between the showers when they could bring in the precious Riesling grapes.

An early bud break and a rapid growth of leaves in the steep Mosel vineyards were followed by a copy-book flowering period in the middle of June. By early July the vegetation was 10 days ahead of the average and expectations were high. In spite of the moist but warm weather from then to October, the average ripeness remained about 10 days ahead. Careful spraying was vital in July and August and those growers who got this right were blessed with clean ripe fruit as the basis for pure aromatic grape flavours.

September was sunny and warm but on September 22 we suffered from a heavy hailstorm, which destroyed half the grapes in the Graacher Himmelreich, where we had anticipated an extremely high quality harvest. We decided to postpone the start of picking to allow the acidity in the grapes to ripen to perfection. On October 14, we started the harvest and this coincided with four weeks of intermittent rain.

Miraculously, healthy Riesling grapes did not suffer from this rain though the bunches affected by botrytis had to be carefully eliminated since they absorbed the outside water.
It took two passes through the vineyards to do this - a most costly and time-consuming procedure but amply rewarded: we did not have a single must below the legal Spatlese ripeness level! As a result, with our stricter than the legal minimum quality standards, we shall be able to offer rich and concentrated Qualitätswein, Kabinett and Spätlese.

With 65 hl/ha we made good and sufficient quantity. The first wines to finish fermenting are showing rich aromatic fruit and well-balanced structure, reminding me of the 1998 and 1992 vintages - the only lack is of noble sweet wines.

Now we wait and hope for a big freeze for our Mülheimer Helenenkloster Riesling Eiswein! Our Eiswein harvested December 24, 2001 was awarded the highest possible score of 100 points by the Gault Millau Wine Guide - only five wines have ever been rated this high. Further, it was awarded the honour of being the best noble sweet wine in Germany of this great vintage! This recognition makes us anxious to pursue our goal to produce the highest quality Riesling wines.

Mülheim/Mosel, Dezember 3, 2002

Dr. Dirk Richter