The winemakers in the flood-damaged Ahr Valley have never experienced a grape harvest like this. Many have lost vehicles and cellar technology. They look forward to fundraising campaigns like “Flutwein”.
Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler – Eva Lanzerath cuts off grapes with her pruning shears in the vineyard above the Ahr and laughs: “The grape harvest is a special feeling, that shouldn’t be missing in any year for me, not even in this corona and flood year.”
The prospective primary school teacher has just finished her term as the 72nd German Wine Queen. It comes from the Ahr valley, where on July 14th and 15th a flash flood after extremely heavy rain killed 133 people and destroyed a lot. 65 of the 68 wine-growing businesses in the river valley known as the red wine paradise are affected by the flood. Their total damage is estimated at 160 million euros. Nevertheless, Germany’s wine harvest is now in full swing here too.
As the Rhineland-Palatinate viticulture minister Daniela Schmitt (FDP) recently announced, around 32 of the 560 hectares of vineyards in the Ahr Valley have been completely washed away, some meters deep. Another 15 hectares had been so overrun by the floods that no more grapes could be harvested there this year.
According to the managing director of the Ahr winegrowing association, Knut Schubert, setting up a new winery costs 1.2 to 1.5 million euros. If the vineyards are destroyed, new plantings cost around 60,000 euros per hectare, and no grapes can be harvested in the first three years.
According to Schubert, most of the Ahr winegrowers have no insurance against natural hazards and are now hoping for reconstruction aid from the federal and state governments. Many damaged wineries are down in the river valley. Their vineyards, on the other hand, are often not impaired as higher and steep slopes in the valley.
Great solidarity among the winemakers
Federal Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner (CDU), who herself was the German Wine Queen 25 years ago, spoke of the great solidarity of winegrowers from all regions of Germany and around the world. Help came from all over the industry. Eva Lanzerath says: “Most of the cellars in the Ahr Valley have been restored or the winegrowers have come together and help each other or have rented halls. Everyone knows everyone here. “
The flash flood in July also damaged thousands of vehicles in the Ahr Valley. According to Schubert, mobile workshops have repaired a number of vintner tractors, especially older models without a lot of electronics: “An unbelievable amount has been achieved.”
There are also several fundraising campaigns for wineries and restaurants. For example, the “Flutwein” relief campaign, among others by the Ahrwein Association with local restaurateurs. According to the initiators, around 4.5 million euros were raised by the beginning of October. Almost 50,000 supporters ordered around 175,000 bottles, the outside “original mud”. Every single bottle is therefore unique.
And the mood now at the grape harvest in the disaster area? Ex-Wine Queen Eva Lanzerath is “positively surprised”. The many volunteers contribute to this. A group of 25 from Cologne recently helped her family. “They all had little idea about viticulture, but they were very interested,” reports the 23-year-old. “After a short introduction, they had a lot of fun. Afterwards we all tasted the wine and everyone took a bottle with us, ”explains Lanzerath. “They also said: ‘After this work we appreciate wine a lot more.'”
Association managing director Schubert expects a below-average harvest volume in the largest contiguous red wine region in the republic because of the “overall too humid weather this year”. The German Wine Institute recently pointed to mostly good fruit sets nationwide, but also to regional fungal infestation caused by rain. Schubert expects the main harvest on the Ahr to be completed in about two weeks – depending on the weather.
Special microclimate
The narrow valley lies in the rain shadow of the Eifel. The heat builds up here in summer. In the vineyards, the sun heats the slate soils, which radiate the stored heat again at night. The Romans are said to have used this microclimate two millennia ago for the first wine-growing in the Ahr Valley.
On sunny weekends in the Ahr Valley, before the flash flood, there were frequent traffic jams on the 35-kilometer red wine hiking trail. This meanders largely untouched by the tide high above the river from Bad Bodendorf to Altenahr through the vineyards. Its middle section is characterized by rugged rock faces, narrow gorges and partly listed vineyard terraces. At Marienthal the footpath leads over the former underground bunker of the federal government.
According to Schubert, attempts are made on the weekends in October to stimulate tourism with wine stalls in the vineyards: “It’s still difficult to find overnight accommodation, but day tourism is possible again.” Do daytrippers and winemakers get in each other’s way during the grape harvest? “No,” says the manager. “With mutual respect, this is something normal again.” Dpa
