Jul
The Ahr valley, Bad NeuenAhr-Ahrweiler area is located in the German National Parc Eiffel region. The valley is a magnet for weekend and hiking tourists from the Netherlands and Belgium. Last week, this area was extremely badly hit by flooding after heavy rainfall. Hundreds of people died or are still missing. The damage is immense.
Although the flooding also reached The Netherlands and Belgium, the biggest damage and casualties are found in the Ahrweiler district. The Ahrweiler district is a very important wine-growing area. Especially these last few decades the quality of Pinot Noir-driven wines has been rising. Almost all winegrowers in the area have suffered terrible damage. Cellars have been flooded, barrels broken or drifted away and the 2020 harvest that was waiting for bottling has been lost.
A huge loss for the winegrowers, but also worldwide for wine lovers. The Ahr wines, which are mainly based on local varieties of Pinot Noir / Spätburgunder, are considered to be among the best red wines of Germany. Great producers like Meyer Näkel and Adenauer keep raising the bar.
There are also many new talents, such as the domain Bertram-Baltes and Weingut Sermann that consistently produce high-quality wines. Our love for the Ahr-wines is very profound and therefore our compassion for the winegrowers is very deep. Fortunately, the whole wine world shows solidarity and several initiatives are already being taken to collect money for the affected wine producers.
Some hope for the future is the fact that the vineyards have withstood the floods and rainfall and even the 2021 harvest can still be saved. We keep our fingers crossed for the Ahr region and hope that they will overcome this disaster.
If you want to show your support, you can donate any amount via this VDP site:
https://www.vdp.de/en/the-eagle-helps-ahr
The full amount is going to be used to help the cause of the Ahr-vintners. We do not have any Ahr wines, so this post is merely to support the fundraising of the VDP.
