The 75-year-old owner, Manfred Lindicke, said that rising global temperatures over the decades had helped his grapes sweeten and ripen earlier.
"When I started here in 1996, we used to harvest around October 1," he said. "Now we start on September 1."
The climate crisis may be wreaking havoc globally on island nations, deserts and coastal regions, and intensifying disasters from droughts and wildfires to hurricanes and floods.
But in some regions, businesses have benefited from some of its impacts -- including on Lindicke's 7.6-hectare vineyard in Werder, about 35 kilometres (20 miles) southwest of the German capital.
His wine production is among the northernmost in Europe and on the same latitude as Mongolia and Alaska.
Grapevines were grown here in the Middle Ages but disappeared by the mid-19th century "due to frost and economic hardships", Lindicke said.
After Germany's 1990 reunification, pioneers brought winemaking back to this corner of the formerly communist-ruled east, a picturesque town close to the city of Potsdam.
They have benefited from a rise in average summer temperatures of more than 1C since, said Ernst Buescher of the German Wine Institute.
Over 200 hectares of vineyards have been planted in northern Germany since the European Union in 2016 permitted members to expand land used for vineyards by up to one percent a year.
- 'Suitable temperatures' -
About 20 wineries have since also sprung up in the nearby western German state of Lower Saxony, which stretches up to the North Sea.
"Now we have suitable temperatures," said Jan Brinkmann, head of the state's winemaking association. "It was only made possible by climate change."
Brinkmann decided to swap grains on part of his own land for grapes because the vines are a hardier, "less vulnerable" crop, he said.
But he granted that it "will certainly take time" for the product to mature into a truly fine wine.
Werder, for its part, already makes impressive Pinotin, a light and fruity red.
"The wine keeps improving, especially the reds," said volunteer Peter Weymann, 71, who asserted that nowadays "German winemakers have no need to fear the Italians or the Spanish".
But Lindicke said that climate change cuts both ways, with the weather now more unpredictable.
Early harvests, late frosts, droughts and intense sun scorching some grape varieties have all presented growing problems.
"August was relatively dry until its last week," he said, adding that a drip irrigation system fitted to local water pipes meant that "we could, thank God, cover the whole 7.6 hectares".
But the last week of August brought "a lot of rain, much too much", he added.
- 'Flipside: extreme weather' -
For now, German winemakers are "generally winners from climate change", Buescher said, but added that the "flipside" was a rise in extreme weather and some crop diseases.
"Changes in the climate have brought an increasing number of risks for German winemaking in recent years," he added.
Those risks include downy mildew, a plant disease that flourishes in wet weather, as well as esca, a fungal infection that prefers hot, dry summers.
Fungus-resistant grape varieties now take up three percent of Germany's cultivated vineyards and about half of Lindicke's.
The climate adaptation efforts make life harder for German winemakers as they battle against the well-established industries in southern Europe.
Lindicke said all of this makes it harder to stay competitive against mass-produced wine from neighbouring countries.
"If you can buy a Sauvignon Blanc from France for 2.50 euros ($2.95) and mine costs 12 or 15 euros, it doesn't make sense," he said.
At 75, he is still searching for somebody to take over the family vineyard.
Bumper harvest falls flat for Italy's Asti vineyards
Castel Boglione, Italy (AFP) Sept 20, 2025 -
The storied Asti region of northern Italy saw a lush harvest this year but many winegrowers are leaving some grapes on the vine, choosing to produce less as US and Russian demand drops.
After two difficult years, 2025 has been a good one and Italy is expected to once again beat rival France as the world's leading producer.
But Paolo Castelletti, secretary general of the Union of Italian Wine, said it was not exactly something to celebrate.
"There is a decline in wine consumption especially in the main market, North America," he told AFP.
"The market was supported by boomers... now they're reducing their consumption," he said.
US President Donald Trump's new tariffs also make imports more expensive and could push Italian wines above the "psychological threshold" of $20 a bottle, he said.
That hit comes on the back of a decline in demand in Russia, where Asti wines were particularly popular, since Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Around 17 million bottles were sold there in 2023, falling to 12 million last year, with this year's sales expected at 10 million.
In total, export demand for Italian wines slowed by four percent in the first five months of 2025.
Some vineyards in France have decided to uproot vines to adapt, and the European Commission is pushing in this direction.
But Castelletti said this should be a "last resort" and supports leaving grapes on the vine, or blocking authorisation for new plantings.
- Hot summer -
Leaving grapes is what some winegrowers are doing in Asti to produce less sparking white.
They plan to reduce production of white Muscat from 10 to nine tonnes per hectare of vines this year.
At his Ca' dei Mandorli (House of Almond Trees) estate, an expanse of seemingly endless vineyards, Stefano Ricagno assessed his first juices as Indian harvesters made the final cuts on the vines.
They are leaving some grapes, but in reality, the summer heat has reduced production anyway.
"We thought we'd produce a lot, but it was very hot. The Muscat harvest is almost in line with our [lowered] targets," Ricagno told AFP.
The latest in a long line of winegrowers here, the 46-year-old presides over the "Asti" Designation of Origin, which covers nearly 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of hills listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Asti has made a name for itself with low-alcohol golden sparkling wines, generally around seven percent for "Asti" and five percent for "Moscato," almost all of which are sold in the United States.
Sales of the "Asti" Designation of Origin fell from 100 million bottles in 2023 to 90 million last year, and are expected to fall to 85 million this year, and winegrowers are seeing their inventories increase.
"We'll see in 2026 if the wars end and the markets recover," Ricagno said.
Other Italian appellations, such as Valpolicella in Veneto, have also reduced volumes this year because of market uncertainties.
But some want nothing to do with quotas -- or appellations.
A few kilometres from Asti, in Nizza Monferrato, Francesco Pozzobon, 35, has taken over abandoned vines and is letting them grow without pesticides, sowing clover and broad beans between the rows.
"We've overproduced and underproduced," Pozzobon said. "With the drop in demand, there will be a natural skimming."
The yield at his Tenuta Foresto is much more irregular and lower than that of his neighbours, at three tonnes per hectare, but he commands high prices for his "artisanal" wines, even as far away as China.
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