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Vintage 2001 in the Moselle was a great vintage. The wines were very solid and achieved unusual ripeness. This was perhaps the finest vintage since the fabled 1971 wines.

The Moselle may have produced the best wines in Germany in this near perfect year. This is a vintage to seek out whether you are looking for a bottle for tonight's dinner or for wines to lay away.

2001 was near perfect as far a grape growing in the Moselle River valley is concerned. The flowering took place within a two week period and was followed by a summer with excellect weather. The only problem was when the rains came and the weather turned chilly in September and it appeared that the perfect summer might turn into disaster. When October arrived, however, it was the warmest in nearly 100 years. The combination of perfect summer, lousy wet September and hot October combined to provide a vintage that had a little something for everyone. The warm summer and October brought mature grapes. The cool weather in September delayed ripening and caused very long 'hang' time for the grapes. The long hang time brought about extremely flavorful grapes. The rains in September also brought mould so there was development of Botrytis Cinerea to bring about the rare and wonderful Beerenauslese (and similar sweet) wines.