BERLIN, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Winemakers in Germany are expecting a 13 percent lower yield in the 2019 harvest than in the previous year, the country's Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Friday.
German wine producers expect to produce 9.04 million hectoliters of wine this year. In 2018, the figure was 10.4 million hectoliters, which was mainly due to favorable weather conditions, according to Destatis.
The decline was "due in particular to the second dry year in a row, but also to sunburn damage to the grapes and regional hailstorms," the German Wine Institute (DWI) said on Friday.
"German wine producers are very satisfied with the quality of the wine produced so far. The grapes showed a comparatively high degree of ripeness with a predominantly good state of health, which leads one to expect fruity white wines and colorful red wines," DWI spokesman Ernst Buescher told Xinhua.
The German Wine Institute's estimate is even lower than that of Destatis. According to DWI, the 2019 wine harvest, which is expected to be completed next week, would only yield 8.6 million hectoliters, 17 percent below the previous year's level.
"The quality is very good, but this year the effects of climate change are noticeable, with an early harvest and especially with extreme heat and drought that have limited the harvest," Klaus Rueckrich of the German Winegrowers' Association (dwv) told Xinhua.
According to Destatis, the harvest of Riesling, the most popular German grape variety, is expected to decrease by 15 percent in 2019. The harvest of other white grape varieties, such as Mueller-Thurgau (Rivaner) or Pinot Gris, is expected to decline by 20 percent.
The yield of red grapes in Germany is also expected to decline, according to Destatis: Portugieser by 12.6 percent; Dornfelder by 6.7 percent; and Pinot Noir by 5.1 percent.
The German Wine Institute said that the 2019 harvest "will be somewhat lower not only in Germany but also throughout Europe." According to first estimates by the European Commission, this year's wine harvest in Europe would reach 161.3 million hectoliters, a decrease of 15 percent compared to the previous year.
