Early Eiswein Harvest ín North-eastern Germany (Saale Unstrut and Saxony) in 2022

German Wine Institute (DWI): Surprisingly and very early in the year, numerous winegrowers in the two north-eastern wine-growing regions of Saale-Unstrut and Saxony were able to crown the 2022 vintage with a successful ice wine vintage in the night of November 20th. 

We will visit the Saale-Unstrut and Saxony reagons in 2023 on the forthcoming Germany-East Tour by ombiasy WineTours. Join us! See:

ombiasy WineTours: Wine Tour Schedule 2023 - Austria, Germany/East, Burgundy/ Champagne, Germany/ North 

At minus seven to nine degrees Celsius, the conditions were perfect. The grape variety spectrum of the harvested icewine grapes ranged from Riesling and Traminer to Cabernet Blanc and Blauer Zweigelt. As the German Wine Institute (DWI) emphasizes, an early frost is very beneficial for ice wine production because the grapes are then still quite healthy.

Icewine poker involves risk

In the south-west of Germany, only comparatively few companies left grapes for ice wine production this year. In Rhineland-Palatinate there were only 31 producers who registered vineyards for the ice wine harvest, in 2021 there were still 152. Often the grapes were no longer in the state of health that is required for this noble sweet specialty.

In addition, due to climate change, there are fewer and fewer days a year on which ice wine harvesting is possible, which increases the risk for winegrowing companies. If the thermometer does not fall below seven degrees Celsius, there is a risk of total loss. In the 2019 vintage, for example, the Rhineland-Palatinate winegrowers had waited in vain for frost.

Noble sweet specialty in demand internationally

The secret of ice wines lies in the dense concentration of ingredients from grapes that are as healthy as possible. In the freezing temperatures, the water in the berries freezes and remains in the wine press. The juice then drips from the press as sweet as honey. Musts with such a high sugar content can only be fermented into wine with great difficulty by the yeasts. Accordingly, ice wines usually have a very high natural residual sugar content of well over 100 grams per liter, but in contrast to southern sweet wines they only have a relatively low alcohol content - often only around seven percent by volume.

The special thing about these fine wines is that this enormous residual sweetness, thanks to the fresh fruit acid, is not intrusive. As a rarity and specialty, German icewines also enjoy great international recognition.

Weingut Born/ Germany-East Tour 2018 by ombiasy WineTours

Among those lucky to be able to harvest icewine early in 2022 was Weingut Born. We visited Weingut Born on the Germany-East Tour 2018 by ombiasy WineTours:

Vineyard Tour, Cellar Tour and Tasting at Weingut Born in Salzatal, Saale-Unstrut, with Elisabeth Born - Germany-East Tour 2018 by ombiasy WineTours: Wine, Art, Culture, History - Berlin, Saale-Unstrut, Sachsen, Württemberg, Franken

Weingut Born is located in the northernmost tip of the Saale-Unstrut region in the Mansfeld lake area. The protective Harz mountains and the heat reflective surface of the water produce a fantastic microclimate. The colored sandstone soil with its layers of loess-loam serves as a heat reservoir.

Saale-Unstrut

The Saale-Unstrut wine region sits on 51st latitude and is Germany’s northernmost accredited wine region, located in the valleys of the Saale and Unstrut rivers, an area of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). This is a historic wine producing region. Cistercian monks came from Burgundy and planted the first vines more than 1000 years ago. The oldest record of viticulture dates back to the year 998 during the reign of Emperor Otto III.

For more on Saale-Unstrut, see:

Schiller’s Favorite Winemakers in the Saale-Unstrut Region, Germany

Weingut Born

The viticultural history of the Born family goes back to the mid 19th century. In 1990 shortly after reunification private ownership became again possible and Günter Born founded one of the first privately owned wineries in this region.

Today the winery has 9 hectares of vineyards. Since September 1, 2017, Weingut Born has been owned and managed by Günter Born's daughter Elisabeth and her husband and co-winemaker Jochen Hinderer-Born.

Elisabeth studied oenology at the famous Geisenheim oenological university and gained experiences in New Zealand and South Africa. In 2011 she served as the German Wine Princess.

Jochen also studied at Geisenheim where the two of them met. Before studying in Geisenheim, he took an apprenticeship with world-class producer Weingut Schneitmann near Stuttgart.

Elisabeth and Jochen have a daughter.

Grape Varieties: White (70%) - Riesling, Weißburgunder, Gutedel, Kerner, Sauvignon Blanc, Red (30%) - Spätburgunder, Blauer Zweigelt, Portugieser.

Vineyard: 9 hectares of which 1 hectare Terrassenlage. Höhnstedter Kresiberg is best vineyard. 

We tasted most of the wines from bottle in the courtyard of Weingut Born and one wine from barrel during the cellar tour.

Wine and Frost 

For more on Eiswein/ Icewine see:

2012 Eiswein in Germany, Icewine in Canada, and Cryo-Extraction Wines

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