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Dr. DIRK RICHTER´S 1999 VINTAGE REPORTCentury ends with record harvest! | |
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"Great" is the adjective to describe the vintage 1999. Great is the quantity -
and there will be a few great wines. One side of the coin states great volume
and the other side great quality. The basic principle that excessive quantity
gives poor quality is fully demonstrated in this vintage: side by side in the
same villages and even in the same vineyards between one grower and his
neighbour, will be found both great wines and mediocre wines. The year began full of promise: a perfect setting of buds in April; ideal growing conditions in May; an early flowering unspoiled by rain, cold or fungus attacks in June; then a picture-book summer with lots of sun culminating in an exceptionally hot and dry September. Throughout this period the vines were two weeks ahead of usual and the media forecasted a glorious vintage perhaps not unlike that of 1959. When the grapes were about to be picked in early October downpours of rain caused some despondency. These lasted ten days but did not actually damage the grapes - they looked as perfect, healthy and opulent as ever. But the rain was enough to cause them to swell up. Although the grapes looked even "nicer", they had lost sugar, acidity and concentration. Old deep-rooted vines were much less affected than young vines with shorter roots and, as an exception to the rule, south-facing vineyards exposed to the sun with their drier soil did not do as well as those facing more to the east and the west. Thus, in this vintage our vineyards in Veldenz and Mülheim were generally more successful than those in Brauneberg, Graach and Wehlen. It was already obvious in August that the vines were over-loaded with grapes. We at MAX FERD. RICHTER therefore executed a "vendange verte" (cutting off fruit while still green), thus reducing the potential quantity by a third. Even so, we still had the largest vintage since 1934! We started picking on 14th October and finished (apart from Eiswein) on 30th November - we have never taken so long over the vintage! During that time we tried to make the optimum quality by a single-minded selection of the grapes. The first pass was to eliminate all inferior grapes. The second was the main picking period when we seperated all the grapes in "the heart of the vine", from those on the outer shoots and at the same time meticulously gleaned all super-mature and botrytised grapes for Auslese and higher qualities. The third pass was literally late-picked, specifically for Spätlesen. All these efforts to obtain the maximum qualiity possible accentuate the fact that harvesting in the steep Mosel vineyards can only be done by hand. 1999 Riesling wines will nbe ready to drink relatively early. They are aromatic with ripe, clean fruit structure and harmonic "built-in" fruit acid. 1999 Mosel Rieslings will be more modest in acidity than usual and the vintage seems to be akin of that of 1964. The 20th century has given us a plethora of great wines. The greates vintages were indubitably 1921 and 1959, followed by 1971 and 1976 - these might justify "Vintage of the Century". In hot pursuit were 1911, 1937, 1949 and 1990; then a number of classics such as 1904, 1915, 1945, 1953, 1964, 1975 and 1983. The "nineties" produced more top vintages which may be added - 1993, 1995 and 1997, plus perhaps 1994 and 1998 but it is too early for a definitive statement. An average of two vintages in each decade, but increasing. Needless to say we have bottles of all vintages in our cellars and so we are quite well qualified..... The second half of this century, and particularly the last decade, showed an increasing number of top vintages. This could be the result of the much discussed "greenhouse effect" but old vintage chronicles report temperatures and climatic conditions in the middle of the 13th century which are similar to those days. For today's generation of winemakers the most important factors in the improvement of quality seem to be their greater knowledge of all aspects of wine, world-wide exchange visits and easy communications. This is true for the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer as it is everywhere else in the wine world and the Riesling Renaissance will be the good news of the 21st Century! Best wishes for a happy Holiday Season, a merry Christmas and a prosperous, successful start of the new Millennium! Greetings from the Mosel, Dirk Richter, all the Richter family and all our staff at the estate! Mülheim/Mosel, 20th December 1999. |
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