Harvest season is a winery’s busiest time of year. It can be grueling and occasionally devastating, but also endlessly rewarding when the year’s crop of grapes are finally brought into the winery. What’s already a hectic and exhausting process — especially for farmers who take the time to hand-pick grapes — can be made even more difficult by extreme environmental conditions.
For many wine regions, the environment that makes them so spectacular can also be what makes reaping their grapes a terror. Vineyards with steep slopes, extreme winds, and rocky, rugged terrains can give a wine great acidity, deep concentration of flavor, and a true sense of place, but these factors can also be unforgiving for those who dare to harvest them. While this list is by no means exhaustive, here are six of the most challenging regions and vineyards to harvest.
Mosel, Germany
Mosel is known for its stunning Riesling with laser-like acidity. The region’s distinct terrain helps achieve this signature profile, including the slate soils, the influence of the river, and, of course, the extraordinary steep slopes. Half of the Mosel’s vineyards are on sharply angled sites with slopes inclined 30 degrees and higher, giving them ideal sun exposure. These vineyards are often terraced so viticulture is possible without rock climbing gear, and most of the grapes can only be harvested by hand, because machines are not able to reach the vineyards with their positioning. Burg Cochem, one of Mosel’s six wine-growing regions, is often referred to
