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A quick note from Johannes Selbach mid-harvest.
"The long streak of beautiful weather has saved the quality of our harvest. The downside is the shrinking yields. For one, we have to throw away a bite more imperfect fruit than usual ( mostly stemming from the rainy August weather ), and the other reason is the accelerating dehydration. The acidity is good and seems to stay at good levels; the aromatic concentration increases daily, and the sugars increase, too. We are happy with how the harvest has worked for us, especially the amount of excellent Kabinett juice we brought in early enough and now the fruit for our dry wines benefits from the longer hang time in every clement weather – warm days, cool nights.
Because the moisture from August, plus morning mist, started botrytis, we have begun selecting fruit for BA and TBA, and, here again, we are pleased – we didn’t expect this to happen this vintage, to be honest.
The juice we brought in so far tastes delicious, and fermentations are going smoothly also, but we are still in the early phases. In short – it was a smaller crop than it seemed, but a lot better than it appeared four weeks ago.
This is a glimpse from the heart of the Mosel.
2023 is a very uneven vintage, and the variation between regions, subregions and even villages is significant. There are many unpleasant things out there, from gray rot to volatile acidity to penicillium in bunches that swelled and started infections during and after the wet month of August. The excess water that made all the nutrients available in a short time in August wasn’t open to vines during the heat and drought, and that bloated the berries, causing many to squeeze and pop inside the bunches. The rot started from inside, invisible at first. To make things worse, the dreaded fruit fly “drosophila Suzuki” is much more present this year than in the past four years, causing major damage on thin-skinned grapes ( more significant on red grapes than whites).
In 8 days, the bulk of the harvest will be in the barn. At Selbach-Oster, we will need a little over two more weeks if the dry weather holds. Keep your fingers crossed."
