About the goodness and many of the wine from the year 1558 to 1862
A privately owned handwritten documentation reports on the basis of short comments of the author about the annual wine harvests as well as the weather conditions in the period from 1558 to 1862.
The vintages over the centuries in Harxheim! It was a small, brown and yellowed booklet that the farmer Christian Schneider (known locally as “de Panje”), who lived with his wife at Gaustraße 13, gave to my father in the late 1970s. With the words “The book is from my father. In it are all the Woi-Lese of Haschem ibber the years uffgezeichent! Schäfer, take good care of it!” the inconspicuous document changed its owner. The commemorative book for our 1250th anniversary seemed to me at the time to be the best way to make this small treasure accessible to the public for the first time and to present the assessments of the Harxheim vintages in terms of quality and yield from 1558 to 1862.
The contents of the booklet were compiled until 1826 by Johannes Diehl, who was named on the title page and came from Harxheim.
Later assessments were continued by different people beyond the end date of 1826 mentioned in the title until 1862. Different writing styles as well as orthographic features prove this.
It can be assumed that the grape harvest descriptions from the 16th to the 19th century were pieced together from different sources.
Title page
Image source: Siegfried Schäfer
Description of the vintages from 1813 to 1830
Image source: Siegfried Schäfer
The commentaries from about 1800 onwards were probably written on the basis of the experience gained each year. The only brief vintage descriptions allow quite good conclusions to be drawn about quality and quantity, but also about the prevailing weather conditions. This is impressively demonstrated, for example, by the catastrophic wine harvests in the “bad years 1816/17,” which were closely related to the eruption of the Tambora volcano in Indonesia in 1816. The contamination of the atmosphere by gigantic ash clouds led to crop failures and famine worldwide during these years.
The years around the French Revolution (1789) were characterized by the residual effects of a small ice age with almost continuously cool and bad weather and consequently correspondingly meager (wine) harvests. Not least, hunger and hardship of the population had also promoted political change at that time. That the Prussians were either bad wine connoisseurs or consumed everything that came into their cups and glasses is shown by the comment on the wine year 1813: “…a bad wine, the Prussians drank.” Perhaps it was their joy at the retreat of the defeated French troops from Mainz, in November of the same year, that put quantity over quality.
The rather cool climate compared to today’s temperature conditions left little room for top vintages – described in the booklet as “Hauptwein”. Mediocre and rather poor vintages in alternation dominate the vintage description over long stretches. Strong frosts, which led to total failures of the grape harvest, are mentioned as well as the occurrence of “Schloßen” (hailstorms and thunderstorms), which caused no less severe devastation of the vines or the grapes.
The Heimatbuch für den Landkreis Mainz from 1967 explicitly refers to two storm years in a report (1). As a result of the hailstorms, crop failures in 1816 brought a year of famine to the community. In 1822, the people of Harxheim once again saw a picture of horror after a severe storm: “Cornfields were rolled down, dead hares and partridges lay everywhere on the torn fruit. Shattered birds hung in the defoliated trees.” Despite immense agricultural damage, subsequently good weather this year led to a bountiful harvest after all.
In my opinion, the quality ratings given serve as a good indication of the wine quality of the respective vintage. The cellar technology of that time can be characterized as simple. The expertise of winemaking has been passed down from generation to generation. The finished cask wines were intended for direct consumption (house wine), as the overall shelf life may have been low. Wine sales beyond local borders were limited, if they occurred at all.
The wines in the listed years were most likely of simple character. It would be very interesting to compare a crescent of this era with a Harxheim wine of today, produced according to the most modern cellar techniques. One would probably only be amazed at the differences in taste.
References:
Diehl, Johannes (undated): Chronologisches Verzeichnis über die Güte und Viele des Weinwuchses vom Jahr 1558 bis1826 (ergänzt bis 1862). Described and even further updated at will. Unpublished manuscript, compiled by Johannes Diehl until 1826 and later completed by other persons.
1) Lang, Werner (1967): Heimatjahrbuch. Mainz County. Oppenheim. p. 151f.
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