A few weeks ago I reported a story claiming that the 2010 harvest was the smallest Germany has seen in the last 25 years. Now, according to a report, neighbouring wine country Austria has just gone through a similar experience.

The harvest which is normally around 2.5 million hectolitres has fallen to 1.7 million hectoliters this year. There were particularly high losses in Niederösterreich, or Lower Austria, where the Weinviertel wine-growing area delivered an almost 25 per cent drop in quantity.

The winter weather conditions this year alternated between cold and unseasonably warm, while April brought flooding to the wine-growing areas. Rain and cold during the flowering period in June caused problems with pollination and fruit set and flowering took place two weeks later than in the previous year. There was relatively dry weather until the end of July, but rain throughout August resulted in a higher infection rate to the vegetation. Additional wet weather throughout October just compounded the problems further, creating more complications for the harvest. In Burgenland experts predicted a 40 per cent lower than average crop, while Steiermark’s crop increased on last year, but remained below average. According to the viticulture director, a total volume of 170,000 hectolitres would likely be harvested in the region.

With this amount, and based on per capita wine consumption in the Steiermark, cellars in the region would be empty within six months. But, he said, if the volume doesn’t quite fulfill expectations – the quality of the vintage certainly will. The wines should be very fresh, have exceptional fruitiness and sufficient alcohol and the acidity will be “crisper than in the previous years”.