2022 was the sunniest and, along with 2018, the warmest and driest year in Germany’s recorded history since 1881, and this is certainly also true for the cooler Mosel region where budbreak and flowering was early. After a rainy period in early June, during the end of flowering, yields were partly reduced but in acceptable quantities. Then, there was barely any rain until the end of the growing season. The upside: the grapes remained healthy. The downside: the grapes were in danger of not ripening in the drought, and the vines—and not just the young ones—even threatened to starve. And then, at the wrong time, at the end of August, the rain came. And it was useless. At least the rain didn’t bring a significant leap forward in terms of must weights and concentration, which both remained relatively low. At the same time, the acidity levels dropped sharply for those producers who waited too long, because they had to wait to reach the finish line in terms of fruit ripeness. On the other hand, those who accepted that this exceptional vintage was rather moderate in its talents and not suitable for the production of great dry and noble sweet wines, made the best of it. For fruit-driven Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese qualities, 2022 was a very nice vintage, precisely because the wines are light and vivacious but also provided with a charmingly lush fruit ripeness and flavor. The 2022s I have tasted so far are everything but what you would expect from such a warm and dry vintage. Even though certain wine styles weren’t produced last year—for example, Willi Schaefer didn’t bottle anything above Spätlese quality and didn’t produce any wine from the Wehlener Sonnenuhr, and Dr. Hermann focused on the Kabinett style and bottled only one dry Grosses Gewächs instead of the four that were bottled the year before—the total crop was slightly better in 2022 than in 2021, but it was still below the average of past years.

Back to the vineyards and their situation last summer when drought was a serious issue everywhere in the Mosel (and everywhere in Germany), especially for younger vines, which suffered the most and stopped photosynthesis. Many of the vines, although partly irrigated, weren't picked at all, even whole parcels or vineyard sites were discarded. For example, Christoph and Andreas Schaefer from Weingut Willi Schaefer in Graach decided not to irrigate. The terroirs in Graach have a good water supply anyway, and Schaefer aims for deep root systems in order not to suffer from drought in the future.

Other terroirs are less generous than in Graach. Ürzig for example. In certain parts, the partly terraced terroirs are so rocky that wise producers, such as Christian Hermann from Weingut Dr. Hermann, abandoned certain plots and cut off the grapes early enough just to rescue the vitality of the vines for the coming years. These extremely stressed vines produced good looking, golden-yellow grapes whose berries had must weights from below 60° Oechsle, though, reports Hermann. "Even a drop of this must in your wine will make it taste terrible."

We can be sure that by far not all the Mosel producers cut off their potential income or didn’t harvest it, and I am curious to learn if all the producers that I normally visit or taste the wines of were that consistent. Having seen the famous Wehlener Sonnenuhr earlier in May this year, I noticed wide areas of highly conventional viticulture. Glyphosate seems to be king here, but there are also well-managed plots that were looking healthy thanks to a good layer of humus and juicy spring greens. In particular, Markus Molitor and JJ Prüm have to be mentioned positively in this regard, even if neither of them is certified organic.

The drama of the Sonnenuhr in 2022, and possibly also in future years, is that it has many young vines after the cru was widely cleaned up and reallocated in the last few years (key word: “Flurbereinigung“). Willi Schaefer abandoned its small plot early and had already cut off all the grapes in summer. Christian Hermann picked for two fuders of Sonnenuhr Kabinett, which is only a fraction of the normal amount. He also didn’t harvest for any higher quality here. Constantin Richter from Max Ferdinand Richter, however, showed me three terrific 2022 Sonnenuhr Rieslings: Kabinett, Spätlese and a three-starred Auslese. They all come from at least 80-year-old vines, though. Katharina Prüm from Joh. Jos. Prüm prefers to show me her recent vintage only after two winters, so I didn’t taste any 2022s but instead tasted a superb series of 2021s. Also, Prüm holds many old, good-looking vines in the Wehlener Sonnenuhr, which is the signature cru of the family, so I would be optimistic when it comes to deciding whether or not to buy a WSU from Prüm.

As I mentioned, the long-awaited rain came at "the wrong time," in September, reports Andrea Schaefer. “Within two weeks before the start of the harvest, we had 50 liters per square meter of precipitation—a horror scenario for any winegrower.“ The producer’s fortune was the cool autumn weather and the excellent health of the grapes. However, very strict selections were absolutely necessary due to uneven ripeness, even on the same plant. The rain made sugar levels rise as quickly as the acidity levels went down. "Being on time and very selective was very important," says Richter.

Although it is still too early for a list of accomplishments—top dry Rieslings haven’t been released yet, and the five producers in the Middle Mosel whose 2022s I have tasted shouldn’t be representative—it is not too early to state this: Given the situations in the drought-stressed vineyards during summer 2022—almost three months without rain—the resulting wines I have tasted so far are much better, fresher and juicier than expected. This is particularly true for the 2022 Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese styles, as long as they haven’t been fermented to dry and are based on ripe and perfectly healthy grapes. Since the Auslese quality is usually much more expensive than Spätlese, the most attractive wines of the 2022 vintage tend to be the Spätlese and also Kabinett Rieslings. The leap from one of the great 2022 Spätleses to the finest Ausleses of the vintage seems to be not significantly large. One will enjoy all the mentioned predicate wines anyway. Whether this also applies to the dry wines remains to be seen, but I am skeptical. At least, if a Grosses Gewächs in 2022 is not allowed to be lean and medium-bodied and forced to be “big.” Already with the few dry "smaller" growths, also Kabinett trocken, they lack fruit and extract, and the wines currently taste rather sparse and sharp-edged. The same weight class with residual sweetness is incomparably more attractive. But that is possibly also a matter of taste.