A reader’s question from a historian friend in Berlin:
At the beginning of the 1780s King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia bought up land in Potsdam’s New Garden for wine growing. Does the area around Berlin and Brandenburg really have the conditions necessary for good wine growing?
Are there vineyards in Berlin/Brandenburg? yes, a few very small plots planted to resilient grape varieties to match the conditions. Unfortunately, no high quality wines have come from here.
But why not?
Basically there is not enough sunlight, the weather too wet and the temperature is too cold. This makes quality grape varieties struggle to ripen, while also leaving the vines prone to disease and frost damage.
The equation for growing grapes for wine is simple: they need time to gradually ripen in the sunshine to get their sugar and acid levels in balance: it can’t be too hot, and it cant be too cold. Have a look at a world map around the 30° latitude line on both hemispheres and voila, you will find most of the world wine areas hanging out there. This is where the best conditions for growing vines currently prevail. You will also notice that areas closer to 50° mainly produce white wine or sparkling wine.
Berlin is around the 50° latitude and without the sunlight hours to get the grape sugars and acids in the right balance to make nice wine. Basically they can’t ripen effectively. This would be a reason for the greenhouses in the Potsdam Sanssouci which would keep the vines a little warmer, but also leave them susceptible to mildew and other fungal issues due to the humidity.
You will also notice that a lot of,or most of, German vineyards are planted on steep hills which is to attract and utilise the relative little sun they have (like a solar panel,,,at an angle you reduce shadows and get the full hit). This was already recognised by those clever cisternian monks hundreds of years ago who took it upon themselves to plant vines on the slopes of hills where the snow melted first. And they are some very steep slopes.
However, back in the days of King Friedrich Wilhelm II winemaking was known to be a little crude anyway with spices and fruits and sugar regularly added to make the drink more palatable. Think of the modern day Gluehwein (Mulled Wine). In that sense, high quality grapes wouldn’t have been necessary.
The good (and bad) news: global warming is very real. Just ask the vineyard owners in Denmark and England who have seen grapes ripening in areas in the past 20 years where they never did before. You may well see vines ripening in cooler latitudes like Berlin sometime soon. So king Friedrich Wilhelm may have just been dreaming but queen Merkel may actually see some decent wine from Berlin in the not too distant future.
- WINEDUCATION - 