Start of the grape harvest at Schloss Wackerbarth in Radebeul

The Schloss Wackerbarth state winery in Radebeul has started the grape harvest. The winegrowers harvested the first Goldriesling grapes, a Saxon specialty, from the single vineyard Paradies. The early-ripening Solaris grape variety will reportedly follow in the next few days. However, due to the weather-related yield losses, Solaris will not be served as Federweißer this time.

The severe late frost in mid-April led to considerable damage in the Elbe Valley wine-growing region, with winegrowers losing around 80 percent of this year's harvest. The second budding of the vines afterwards was only able to compensate for this to a very small extent. "2024 will not be a good wine year in terms of volume," said Wackerbarth spokesman Martin Junge. The state winery is also expecting a "noticeably reduced" harvest volume. "Nevertheless, the good news is that there will be grapes from Saxony's vineyards again this year."