Vineyard farming in Germany

I have a question thats intrigued me for years....
Let's take a hypothetical situation. The Erdener Pralat vineyard on the Mosel is very small (I have different acreages from different reference materials I have). I would guess no more than 12 to 15 acres. This plot has several producers. Who does the vineyard management here? Every producer has their own style and so forth. Who makes the decision to spray or not, who decides how much to crop the vineyard to specific amounts? Does each producer have their own people out there from row to row doing something different? It just amazes me.

thanks
Michael

[David M. Bueker]

Each producer takes care of their own vines unless they have some agreement with another producer to take care their vines for them.

Walk through a famous vineyard (e.g. Piesporter Goldtropfchen) and you will see immaculately handled vines next door to a slovenly mess. The difference is who owns the vines.

Not only is this true in most famous German vineyards, but also in most of the Grands and Premiers Crus of Burgundy, in for example in famous 'crus' of Barolo, Barbaresco, and in many more vineyards in Europe where land ownership is divided multiple ways mainly as a result of the Napoleonic inheritance laws. The only exceptions are so-called 'Monopoles' e.g. in Burgundy, Mommessin Clos du Tart or in Germany, say, Schloss Johannisberg etc.

It is indeed truly amazing and really emphasizes how the name on the producer on the bottle is so much more important than the name of the vineyard itself. Also, it really begs the question as to how one producer with a patch of vines amongst many others can claim his to be organic or biodynamic when his direct neighbours are using chemical farming methods. By the way, some of the immaculate looking vineyards will be the chemically-farmed and some of the messy-looking ones could well be the organic ones - not always the case, though...

I have a question thats intrigued me for years....
Let's take a hypothetical situation. The Erdener Pralat vineyard on the Mosel is very small (I have different acreages from different reference materials I have). I would guess no more than 12 to 15 acres. This plot has several producers. Who does the vineyard management here? Every producer has their own style and so forth. Who makes the decision to spray or not, who decides how much to crop the vineyard to specific amounts? Does each producer have their own people out there from row to row doing something different? It just amazes me.

As David said, every Estate has its own team to tend the vines and harvest the grapes. There are instances of arrangements between growers, especially for those that have vineyards spread around the Mosel (Molitor does some work for Kesselstatt in the Josephshöfer and in return, Kesselstatt tends the Molitor vineyards in Niedermennig I think) to avoid daily travels of 1/2 hour or more. but these are really more exceptions and ad-hoc.

Also, every maker is allowed to plant his vines the way he wants to: maintain old Riesling on single pole, install a wire-tending, etc.

Regarding spraying, each major vineyard in the Mosel Saar-Ruwer has a "Spritzausschuss" (Spraying Association) that organises the main spraying (that is typically done via helicopter / there is a rather famous in the Mosel - a retired russian veteran helicopter pilot from the Soviet Afganistan war ... he can fly at less then 2m above the vines and still avoid the cliffs). This is a voluntary association and in principles you could not join and still "get the benefits". In practice, you couldn't be seen in church on Sundays if you would not join, so all makers are members (except for very small ones, often hobby/part-time makers, which get the benefits as a service to the community).

Thanks for the great info! Just the answers I was hoping to find! Brost!

Michael

What Wink Lorch said is so absolutely true, especially concerning Burgundy and Germany.

For various historical reasons, the ownership of the great vineyards is usually very fragmented. Perhaps the worst case is the Burgundy grand cru Clos de Vougeot, which has over 70 owners, of even more than that number of individual plots of vines.

Each individual owner has total control over the viticulture of the vines on his/her land. This results in some rather bizarre situations.

For example, the vineyard owner who proudly proclaims "I do entirely organic viticulture, with no fertilization and no pesticides". And as you're standing next to him on his three rows of vines, a tractor is spraying toxic chemicals and fertilizer over the half-acre plot above his vineyard (i.e., the runoff from there hits his vines), as you choke on the fumes.

And the Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru appellation covers the entire former monastic walled vineyard, from the uppermost slope of the hills (on the same geographic terrain as the other grands crus of the Cote de Nuits), to the lower slopes (contiguous with premier cru land on either side), to the flat land next to the Route Nationale. Which is bordered on either side by land that is considered inferior commune appellation at best. You can't tell me that nature sees the walls and has magically blessed this flat land within the Clos as grand cru, while the land a meter away outside the wall is merely commune appellation. Let's face it--the only part of Clos de Vougeot worthy of Grand Cru status is the upper portion (the Abtsberg equivalent, to use the German term) contiguous geographically and geologically with the other Cote de Nuits grands crus. This is why Clos de Vougeot is such a land mine--the AOC itself tells you nothing of WHERE within the vast land of the Clos the grapes came from. You have to go by the producer.

It's very much the same in Germany. The famous vineyards mostly are fragmented, and since 1971 inferior land has been grafted onto many of the famous names. As in Burgundy, the producer has to be your primary guide.

-Paul W.

And the Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru appellation covers the entire former monastic walled vineyard, from the uppermost slope of the hills (on the same geographic terrain as the other grands crus of the Cote de Nuits), to the lower slopes (contiguous with premier cru land on either side), to the flat land next to the Route Nationale. Which is bordered on either side by land that is considered inferior commune appellation at best. You can't tell me that nature sees the walls and has magically blessed this flat land within the Clos as grand cru, while the land a meter away outside the wall is merely commune appellation. Let's face it--the only part of Clos de Vougeot worthy of Grand Cru status is the upper portion (the Abtsberg equivalent, to use the German term) contiguous geographically and geologically with the other Cote de Nuits grands crus. This is why Clos de Vougeot is such a land mine--the AOC itself tells you nothing of WHERE within the vast land of the Clos the grapes came from. You have to go by the producer.

True Paul. The Clos de Vougeot has the most soil variation of any Grand Cru in Burgundy. The Grand Cru portion is around 50 ha, less than half of which should reasonably be considered Grand Cru (Le Corton and Corton-Charlemagne have siliar plights.). The ownership is so parceled and fractured within the Clos that it is difficult to relay without visual aid whom the winners and losers are. A few owners of substantial plots have vines in both extremes of the vineyard, and those with the best parcels own very little. Even the land surrounding the actual Chateau du Clos de Vougeot up closest to Chambolle-Musigny is a maze.

The situation is a little different in Germany in that the 1971 reforms expanded the existing boundaries of famous vineyards and absorbed lesser vineyards (and lesser known vineyards alike.) It was done for the same reasons that France is now overhauling their own AC system today (ease of marketing.) But moreover, the Germans were also high on the tide of socialist political reform and broadening the limits of ‘prime’ vineyard land was seen as a just way to democratize the wine industry and level the field for more vintners.

-Bill