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Vintage 2022 put Austrian winegrowers 'through their paces'

The report states that despite a mild winter with very little precipitation, budding did not occur until the end of April, which is relatively late.

Then, after a long spell of dry weather, the vines blossomed relatively early, brought out by the warmth.

• Read more: Austria: 100 years of Zweigelt

In most regions throughout Austria, however, this was accompanied by heavy rainfall.

“Vintners in these wine-growing regions had their hands full, trying to keep the threat of fungal diseases, especially Peronospora, at bay. Coulure, which occurred in certain regions, also had a natural thinning effect on the clusters,” said a representative from the Marketing Board.

However, like most of western Europe, Austria enjoyed a very torrid summer in 2022. According to the report, the vines had to cope with “extreme dryness – the likes of which had hardly ever been witnessed before. Naturally, young vines suffered most from these conditions, but so, too, did vines growing on meagre soils, which had to survive without water. Fortunately, there were no severe hailstorms, nor was there any widespread, heavy rain.”

Yet rainfall arrived in mid-August, followed by two more periods of inclement weather before the main harvest. Until then, sugar ripeness was still relatively low, but this rain came at just the right time to trigger a final burst of ripening.

“At the beginning of September, winemakers suddenly began recording gradations like those in the outstanding 2019 season. Although acidity dropped in comparison to the two previous years, it still corresponded to the levels of 2017 and 2012 – also two very good years for wine,” the report stated.

“In general, the 2022 growing season had all the makings of another remarkable vintage. However, the unexpected rain meant that winemakers had to tend to their vines quickly to prevent the risk of rot and Botrytis.”

Nevertheless, vintage 2022 will go down in Austrian history as one that placed enormous challenges on the nation's winegrowers.

According to the Wine Marketing Board, “These vagaries of the weather caused most grape varieties to ripen almost simultaneously, which also meant that rapid action was needed. As a result, in many wine-growing areas the harvest was completed in record time and already over with by the end of September.

“Of course, this was not the case for all regions and grape varieties; Riesling, for example, which is primarily grown north of the Danube, was allowed to ripen for as long as necessary on the vine here, although this did result in lower volumes.”

• Riesling
• Austria
• Zweigelt
• Austrian Wine Marketing Board