According to the German Wine Institute (DWI), the prospects for a high quality harvest in 2022 are very promising.
This is because a large part of the vineyards in the German wine regions continue to develop quite well despite the extreme drought. The grapes are in good health and so far there have been no major storms. Red wine varieties, in particular, benefit from sunny weather, allowing you to expect full-bodied and coloured red wines. The white wine grapes are already very aromatic and have a moderate acidity.
It is to be expected that the German harvest will develop quite quickly, as the sugar content in the berries will increase rapidly with the dry and sunny weather and many varieties will reach harvest maturity at the same time. The harvest will end with the Riesling, which is expected to be ready to be picked in mid-September.
However, the drought is also a great challenge for winegrowers, as the condition of the vines is very heterogeneous within the regions. While older vineyards are still quite vigorous due to their deep root system, younger vines suffer considerably from the lack of water, especially in light soils that do not retain much water. The ripening of the grapes is also much slower for them. The young plants are watered as much as possible and, in very stressed vineyards, you even have to remove the grapes to protect the vines or, at least, to keep them alive.
Another effect of drought is that the berries are still comparatively small. This leads us to expect rather moderate yields despite the good clusters of vines in general. Moderate rainfall in the coming weeks could still have a positive effect on the harvest, but it would be desirable for it to rain in large quantities during the harvest period.
SOURCE: SEVI.NET