A VERY FINE YEAR for GERMANY’S 2OO9 VINTAGE

Prepare yourselves for some good German wines.  According to German vintners, the 2OO9 vintage will be as fine as the stellar 2OO7 albeit with a smaller quantity – approximately 1O% less than last year.  Ideal weather in the summer and early autumn means quality will be very high with potential alcohol between 12.5% and 13.5%.  However, yields will be down because of uneven flowering in June when cold rainy weather resulted in fewer and smaller grapes per bunch. 2OO9 will produce slightly less than 9 million hectoliters of wine, the lowest figure since 2OO3.