The weather was to blame

Styrian wine harvest experienced a long-term low

Viticulture President Stefan Potzinger at his winery in southern Styria. Behind him, the grapes are being diligently harvested.

(Bild: Sepp Pail)

The Styrian wine year came to an end with a drop of 17 percent compared to the previous year. This is the worst harvest in six years. The weather conditions were to blame - even though the President of the Styrian Winegrowers' Association says: "The more the vines have experienced, the better the wine."

"In the 2022 and 2023 vintages, we had the smallest harvest since 2016," says Stefan Potzinger, President of the Styrian Winegrowers' Association. Across Austria, difficult weather conditions made for bleak times in the wine industry: the harvest volume was eight percent below that of 2022, and for red wine it was even minus 15 percent.

In 2011, we had the best harvest since the monarchy with around 30 million liters.

Stefan Potzinger, Präsident des Weinbauverbands Steiermark

Potzinger puts the Styrian wine year in perspective: "In 2011, we had the best harvest since the monarchy with around 30 million liters, now it was under 20 million liters." In Styria, there was even a drop of 17 percent compared to the previous year.

The wine harvest is subject to "natural fluctuations"
The reason? "Sometimes it was too cold, then too hot, sometimes too dry and then too wet," says Potzinger. The storms at the beginning of August also caused problems for the winegrowers. "Actually, 22 to 24 degrees with good humidity would be ideal," explains the South Styrian.

The 2023 wine harvest

• A good 19 million liters of wine were produced in Styria last year
• That's 17 percent less than in 2022
• Austria-wide it was minus 15 percent compared to 2022
• Nevertheless, the wine stock reached a new high of 305 million liters in Austria in 2023

Nevertheless, Styrian winegrowers are "very, very satisfied" with the year, especially because white wine is very much in vogue globally. This is also benefiting from climate change, "which unfortunately does exist". The fact that the last harvest was worse than hoped for is subject to "absolutely natural fluctuations". After all, a high-yield year is usually followed by a weaker harvest because the vines have to recover.

"As a winegrower, you always have to look at entire decades," says Potzinger. He expects a better harvest again next year. In addition, the wine should automatically be tastier in smaller quantities - the energy of the vine is more concentrated on just a few grapes. "And the more the vines have experienced, the better the wine," Potzinger adds.