Winemakers of Germany toast earliest ever harvest

NOT everyone is complaining about the heatwave sweeping northern Europe. Germany is on course for its earliest ever grape harvest, and the country’s winemakers are delighted.

While farmers are warning of failed crops and calling for compensation to cover the costs of the drought, the vineyards are gearing up for what they hope will be a bumper crop.

In the Rheinhessen, Germany’s biggest wine-growing region on the banks of the river Rhine, the grape harvest is due to start next week.

“We are extremely early,” Ernst Büscher of the German Wine Institute told Der Spiegel magazine. “The development of the vines is a good three weeks ahead of the 30-year average.”

The harvest will begin on August 6, two days ahead of the previous record which was set in 2011, and winemakers are hoping it will give them a chance to compete with hotter climes.

Germany’s vineyards have traditionally lagged behind Italy and other rivals to the south, where summer comes earlier. It is too early to know how the harvest will affect the region’s riesling wines. Riesling grapes do not usually ripen until late September, and are sometimes picked as late as January.

The first wines to be made will be federweisser, a cloudy grape juice that is about 4 per cent alcohol, similar to a French bernache. It is made from a number of non-riesling grape varietals. “We are usually four weeks behind the federweisser from Italy, but this year we can catch up faster,” said Albrecht Ehses of the local chamber of commerce.

Meanwhile, the German Farmers Association has called for €1bn (£890m) compensation from the government for failed crops caused by the heatwave.