“Germany’s 2008s are like the perfect sorbet,” says Helmut Dönnhoff. “They are so refreshing.” No spin doctor could cast the notably high acidities of the 2008s in a more favourable light than this acclaimed Nahe winemaker, who is not prone to hyperbole. In fact, in the same modest breath he went on to say that in his 60th year he is finally getting the hang of making wine. “Now I can start. I know how things are done now.”

Wilhelm Haag, a leading light of the Mosel wine growers, had a more pragmatic view of the latest vintage’s very distinctive character: “The 2008 is very good for our economy at the moment because the wines are mostly in the lower price range.”

It is certainly true that there are very few late-picked sweet wines. Among the hundreds of German 2008s I have so far tasted I have come across less than a handful of Beerenauslesen and Trockenbeerenauslesen, and most of the Auslesen I have tasted have tasted more like Auslese Lite than 2007’s intensely rich beauties (as in Sauternes).

What 2007 and 2008 had in common was a summer that was more “normal” than most other years of this climatologically challenged millennium, in which the concern has been that grapes might be too ripe. Thanks to a particularly cool spring, bud burst was rather later than usual in 2008 but a warm May speeded things up before the long, cool summer. It was not until the second week of September that 2008’s true colours became evident. Cool, wet weather slowed the ripening of the noble Riesling grape to a snail’s pace.

By the end of September, sugar levels in the grapes were quite respectable but acidities were still fiendishly high and the grapes were not yet properly ripe, with flavour compounds still half-formed. Even in the first half of October, according to Dönnhoff, “there was a green feeling in the grapes. The first two weeks of October were too early to pick, even though the Polish workers came and wanted to work then.” (There is a thesis to be written on German vineyard labour trends and their status as eastern European economic indicators. Apparently the Poles felt sufficiently well-heeled in 2007 for there to be a sudden shortage of vineyard workers in Germany, but they came back last year, and in April this year there was a flurry of calls from Poland to German wineries.)

Low temperatures in October, and particularly cool nights, kept botrytis rot at bay and malic acid levels high so that those who picked too early have produced extremely tart, sometimes rather thin wines. As Julia Keller of the Rheinhessen region puts it: “2008 was a bit like 2004 – nice but you had to wait so long, until November, to pick. We were still picking our Hubacker vineyard on November 20. In 2007, on the other hand, everything was perfect. Both years had good weather during the vintage but we had to work so much harder in 2008.”

Producers of successful 2008s

Bassermann-Jordan, Pfalz
Bürklin-Wolf, Pfalz
A Christmann, Pfalz
Clemens Busch, Mosel
Dönnhoff, Nahe
Grans-Fassian, Mosel
Reinhold Haart, Mosel
Freiherr Heyl zu Herrnsheim, Rheinhessen
Keller, Rheinhessen

Kloster Eberbach, Rheingau
Kühling-Gillot, Rheinhessen
Sybille Kuntz, Mosel
Josef Leitz, Rheingau
Loosen, Mosel
Georg Mosbacher, Pfalz
Egon Müller, Saar
S A Prüm, Mosel
Rebholz, Pfalz
Horst Sauer, Franken

Schäfer-Fröhlich, Nahe
Schloss Lieser, Mosel
Emrich Schönleber, Nahe
von Schubert, Ruwer
Van Volxem, Mosel
Wagner-Stempel, Rheinhessen
Stefan Winter, Rheinhessen
Wittmann, Rheinhessen
Zilliken, Saar

Carl von Schubert in the Ruwer region deliberately prolonged pre-fermentation contact between the juice and the grape skins to eight hours or so, in an effort to soften the impact of the acidity. Those high malic acids persisted in the young Rieslings as they matured in the better estates’ cellars. The second, softening malolactic fermentation is not commonly practised on such wines but, fortunately, it was a very cold winter and in the freezing cold cellars a certain amount of acidity was precipitated out of the wine. In fact, as Dönnhoff observed wryly, the 2008 Rieslings would actually taste more appealing if they contained 10 per cent of the much lower-acid Silvaner grape.

One bonus of the very cold 2008/2009 winter is a reasonable crop of Eiswein, made from frozen grapes, typically picked on December 30 but some picked in the 2009 calendar year (although, as is usual, they will carry the year of their growing season on the label).

One thing I noticed when tasting from the vast range shown to German wine professionals in Mainz at the end of April is that the difference in profile between dry (trocken), half dry (halbtrocken and feinherb) and fruity wines is being eroded. It seems eminently sensible that there should be a greater emphasis on producing well-balanced wines rather than making a political statement about dry v sweet. Indeed, some serious producers seem to be abandoning the traditional Prädikat classifications (Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese, BA and TBA) on their labels altogether.

I note that those UK merchants currently making offers of the particularly useful 2008 vintage (Justerini & Brooks, Montrachet, Howard Ripley and Seckford, to be followed by Tanners and The Wine Society) are offering more dry wines than they have in the past, although they tend to be relatively modest examples since lovers of German wine will pay such handsome prices for the best. UK merchants The Wine Barn and The Winery have particularly good selections of dry German wines.

I also noticed that screwcaps are on the ascendant in Germany. Willi Haag will put more than half of the 2008 crop under screwcaps for the first time, because so much of the harvest is at relatively modest sugar levels.

I shall certainly be buying some 2008s, despite the disobliging exchange rate. The weather may have presented challenges but Germany’s best producers are more skilled and more determined than they have ever been. The best are lovely, expressive, truly refreshing wines that will mature relatively early and will make delicious aperitifs – so much better value than most champagne.

As totemic, fourth-generation Saar winemaker Egon Müller put it: “2008 is a step back from 2005, 2006 and 2007. 2008 is more normal. We’re not used to that.”

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