Austria faces huge quantity drop after devastating conditions earlier this year

Heavy May frosts and severe hailstorms in May and July caused €22m in vineyard damages across the country, according to

Österreichische Hagelversicherung (Austrian Hail Insurance).

Regions that suffered most, especially the Kamptal and Weinviertel, which were hit by the frosts, and the hail-pummeled

Steiermark, Burgenland and Thermenregion, fortunately have been compensated by a long, hot and generally sunny summer

This, as in other parts of Europe, saw temperatures often hovering between 30º ¨C35ºC and means harvest has been up to

two weeks earlier than usual.

Josef Pleil, president of the Austrian Winegrowers' Association said nearly 10,000ha of vineyards were affected by the

bad weather, with 4000 of them ¡®a total loss¡¯.

¡®So we expect a total volume of around 2.2m hectoliters this year, down from 2.9m last year. Still, with the ongoing

pleasant conditions, grapes in the undamaged vineyards are showing beautiful ripeness and sugar.¡¯

¡®If nothing severe happens in the coming weeks, then it will be a warm, very mature vintage, perhaps in the direction of

2003,¡¯ Michael Moosbrugger, who runs Schloss Gobelsburg in the Kamptal said.

Michael Malat of the Kamptal's Weingut Malat said: ¡®This vintage will be somewhere between 2010, which had higher

acidity and lower alcohol, and 2011, which tended toward lower acidity and higher alcohol.¡¯

According to the Austria Statistik office, the Kamptal, which is home to top Gr¨¹ner Veltliner and Riesling sites such as

Lamm and Heiligenstein, is likely to harvest 37% fewer grapes than last year.

The Wachau, Austria's most renowned Gr¨¹ner Veltliner and Riesling region, is expecting only a 12% quantity drop, while

the Weinviertel, which accounts for over 40% of the country's entire production of Gr¨¹ner Veltliner, faces an estimated

43% drop.