Flood Comes for the Ahr and Its Winemakers

By

Valerie Kathawala

•

•

Volume 06, Forest for the Trees •
, ,
A small building half destroyed by flood is in the foreground, in the background a terraced vineyard.
Ahr flood damage, Mayschoss, photo credit Valerie Kathawala

From last Wednesday night into Thursday morning, 148 liters/square meter of rain fell on the Ahr. In a normal July, the region gets about 80 liters/square meter — in the entire month. This immense volume of precipitation in such a short span dilated creeks into torrents. Torrents rose and swiftly emptied into the Ahr itself, which morphed into an implacable, surging mass of water. As we’ve now all seen on the news, the river ripped through the villages that line its banks — Ahrweiler, Dernau, Mayschoss will be names familiar to German wine lovers — shocking everyone from the authorities charged…

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here

Writer, Editor, Publisher

Valerie Kathawala specializes in the wines of Germany, Austria, South Tyrol, and Switzerland, as well as those closer to her home in New York City. Her work appears in the pages of Noble Rot, Full Pour, SevenFifty Daily, Meininger’s Wine Business International, Pipette, Glug, Pellicle, and a number of other tolerant publications.

Similar Posts

Steffensberg Pinot vineyard in the Mosel encased in fog
·

Modern Mosel Pinot Noir: Riesling Dressed in Red

ByChristoph Raffelt

Winemakers in the Mosel are tending an old tradition that is budding anew. These modern Pinots reach for elegance and complexity, edginess and vitality. and the world is finally taking notice.

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here
Konni + Evi: Rewriting Possibility in Saale-Unstrut
· ·

Konni + Evi: Rewriting Possibility in Saale-Unstrut

ByEva Biringer

It’s hard to believe now, but Germany was once a divided country, and the East was a strange microcosm of icons of that era: Sandmännchen, Jungpioniere, and FKK-Kultur. Not to forget its sparkling ambassador, Rotkäppchensekt. Also hard to believe: a destination for wine fans has now arisen in the area between Chemnitz and Cottbus, Magdeburg and Dresden.  And yet, from Berlin, the trip takes you almost 200 kilometers to the south, past Dessau and Lutherstadt Wittenberg, to a place whose name sounds to German ears disturbingly close to “Lauch” (leek). Laucha an der Unstrut has roughly 3,200 inhabitants, a bell museum, and one…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here
A bowl of fish soup next to a glass of Pfalz Riesling
· ·

The Pfalz’s Unlikely Catch: A Fish Soup Story

ByPaul Kern

There is no fish soup in the Pfalz. Sad, but true. Like most of Germany’s winegrowing regions, the Pfalz is simply too far removed from the sea for fish to feature prominently in its traditional cuisine. By extension, Pfalz fish soup is practically a culinary contradiction. A delicious deception. A seafood swindle.   A Pfalz cookbook is a celebration of rustic comfort: Leberknödel (liver dumplings), Kartoffelsuppe mit Speck (potato soup with bacon, often in unlikely combination with plum cake), and, of course, Saumagen (stuffed pig’s stomach). Arguably the region’s culinary signature dish, this is a hearty, sausage-y mix of pork, potato,…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here
Letter to My Younger Somm Self
·

Letter to My Younger Somm Self

ByPaula Redes Sidore

Don’t let anyone tell you those rocks are a waste of time.  Twenty-five years from now, sitting in a Koblenz classroom on your first day of wine school, you will be grateful for each and every one of them. Because there in the heart of German wine country, those stones and their secrets —  though you don’t know it yet — will be the foundation keeping you steady among your more experienced classmates, those vintners’ sons and daughters who boast seven, ten, 15 generations in the business, and counting. All while you are still trying to locate the Mosel on…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here