It takes about two years to make a high-quality red wine: From pruning in the vineyard in late winter, to pest control and soil cultivation in spring, fungus prevention and foliage work in summer, harvesting the grapes by hand in early fall, mash fermentation in fall and aging in barrique barrels, all the way to bottling.
Meike Näkel from the Meyer-Näkel winery in Dernau on the Ahr runs the top winery together with her sister Dörte and shows step by step how much manual work is required in red winemaking.
NOTE: The filming for this show was completed before the floods on the Ahr River. By the skin of their teeth, the sisters were saved from the flood, but the production facility shown in the broadcast was largely destroyed.