Harvest year 2025 makes history in Alsace

One of the earliest, warmest and driest seasons ever delivers exceptional quality

The past vintage is among the 10 warmest and driest ever recorded in Alsace. The Comité Interprofessionnel des Vins d'Alsace (CIVA), the trade association for Alsace wines, this week published its latest harvest report for 2025. Despite challenging weather conditions, the CIVA speaks of an exceptional vintage, with wines of remarkably high quality.

Early start to season due to warm and dry spring

After a winter that was largely within seasonal norms, Alsatian vineyards experienced unusually warm and dry conditions in spring 2025. As a result, the growing season started considerably earlier than usual. As early as the end of June, it became clear that 2025 would stand out as an exceptional year climatically.

The combination of sustained heat and limited precipitation resulted in very early grape ripening, which evolved rapidly from the first half of August. Thunderstorms in July partially replenished water reserves in the soil, preventing severe water stress in the vineyards. The official harvest dates were set at 19 August for Crémant d'Alsace and 25 August for the other AOC wines. This makes 2025 the earliest vintage in Alsace's modern history.

Challenging conditions during harvest

The start of harvest coincided with a change in weather to wetter and stormier conditions. This required a lot of flexibility from winemakers, who had to carefully balance between optimum ripeness and the health of the grapes.

Despite these challenges, the quality of the wines is described as very high. According to the CIVA, the wines fully meet market expectations:

• Muscat and Sylvaner stand out for their freshness and liveliness
• Riesling shows structure and complexity
• Red wines present themselves more fruity, supple and approachable

In addition, the damp weather at the end of the season promoted the development of botrytis, resulting in high-quality Vendanges Tardives and Sélections de Grains Nobles with nice acidity and excellent storage potential.

The 2025 harvest in figures

• The total production of AOC wines from Alsace is 840,681 hl, equivalent to more than 112 million bottles, or more than 9.3 million cases
• AOC Alsace accounts for 57% of total production, AOC Crémant d'Alsace for 40% and AOC Alsace Grands Crus for 3%
• Riesling is the main grape variety used to produce Alsace AOC still wines (Alsace and Alsace Grand Cru), accounting for 25%, followed by Gewürztraminer with 19.5%, Pinot Gris with 17.4% and Pinot Noir with 9.4%