The Moselle
Along the banks of the Moselle, vineyards have been part of Luxembourg's landscape, economy, and culture for generations. The country's wine region stretches for around 42 kilometres, with producers cultivating Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Auxerrois, as well as grapes for Cremant de Luxembourg.
But the climate that has traditionally shaped these vineyards is changing.
For winegrowers, climate change means more than warmer summers. Earlier growing seasons, drought, intense rainfall, spring frosts, hail, and heatwaves are making conditions increasingly unpredictable. These changes affect not only yields, but also when grapes ripen, how they develop, and what Luxembourg wine will taste like in the future.
Antoine Clasen, CEO of Bernard Massard, says the winery is seeing "earlier budbreaks", leaving vines increasingly exposed to spring frost. For Andre Mehlen, director general of Domaines Vinsmoselle, one of the clearest changes is that "the harvest is taking place earlier and earlier". In 2022, extreme heat pushed the beginning of the cremeant harvest to around 22 August. Historically, the first grapes were harvested around 22 September.
Earlier ripening can be beneficial in a traditionally cool wine-growing region, but it also creates a delicate balance. As grapes ripen, sugar levels increase while acidity decreases. If ripening happens too quickly, grapes can develop high sugar levels before reaching the desired flavour and aromatic profile. For Luxembourg's fresh white wines and cremeant, maintaining acidity is particularly important. Mehlen notes that winegrowers once needed to add sugar to the must to reach the required alcohol level. Today, they are increasingly looking at ways to reduce it.
Drought is a growing concern. Mehlen has seen its effects particularly in young vines, whose roots have not yet developed deeply enough to access water reserves. Under severe water stress, vines can stop developing grapes and even begin losing leaves. Providing the equivalent of just 10mm of rainfall to one hectare of vineyard would require approximately 100,000 litres of water.
Corinne Kox, who took over her family's Domaine L&R Kox in 2019, has been planting trees among the vines since then to break up the monoculture and create a more diverse ecosystem. "The trees are small now", she says, "but in 20 years' time, when the weather conditions become more extreme, big trees in the vineyards could be very helpful."
She argues that every new vineyard should be planned with the next 50 years in mind, including the choice of grape varieties and cultivation methods.
Mehlen argues that one of the biggest issues is succession. The future of Luxembourg's vineyards depends not only on whether vines can cope with a changing climate, but also on whether there will be enough people willing to work them. There is a "need to make the profession of winegrower and farmer more attractive again, especially for younger generations."
For Clasen, the biggest impact is uncertainty. Weather patterns are becoming "more difficult to predict", he says, adding that "nature does not wait for our planning".
42 kilometres of vines along a river that has defined a region for centuries. The wine will survive. The question is what it will taste like, and who will still be there to make it.