When winemakers talk about their wines they inevitably also mention the weather. When German winemakers are going to talk about their 2011 wines the weather may become the dominating topic.
On August 25th 2011, shortly before the harvest was about to begin, a hail storm destroyed large parts of the vineyards in the Mosel, Rheingau, Rheinhessen and Baden wine regions of Germany. The Middle Mosel around Bernkastel, Veldenz and Brauneberg were hit particularly hard with hail as big as golf balls and in some vineyards as big as tennis balls. The winery S. A. Prüm estimates that they lost about half of their grapes within a few minutes. Others estimate the loss to be around 30%. But not everybody was hit - a few growers like Immich-Batterieberg from Enkirch reported that their vineyards were spared.
The next days will show how severe the damage is going to be. If the weather is not going to be cool and dry then those berries that are still hanging on the vines but have been bruised by hail will start to rot. The situation in some vineyards is is bad enough as it is. But it could even be significantly worse. Most growers said that more than the hail itself they fear the days after.
This year hasn't been easy for German winegrowers. In May they already had to deal with frost in the vineyards of Franconia and Rheinhessen, which usually translates into reduced yields. Not to mention last year's meagre yields in all of Germany when late budding of the vines, hail and a wet summer forced a rigorous selection of healthy grapes in the vineyards and thus reduced yields by more than half for many growers. Wine is made in the vineyards. Nature makes the wine. But sometimes she decides not to.
This doesn't mean though that 2011 will be a bad vintage for German wine because even in the affected vineyards there will be a harvest in 2011. But it necessitates significant manual labor in the vineyard as any rotten grapes need to be removed from the vines. When growers are meticulous in the vineyard quality will be made. Just not as much from certain vineyards.