Vintner from the Ahr Valley: "That gives us a lot of hope"

Mr. Kriechel, you and your colleagues have already collected more than three million euros in donations with the “Flutwein” campaign.

Would you have expected such a response?

Absolutely not.

We are lacking in words, the positive energy and helpfulness that we encounter.

I googled the most successful crowdfunding campaigns in Germany, so we should be right at the front by now.

But more than every euro counts for me to see this large community that stands behind us - over 33,500 people have donated so far.

There are now other campaigns in the industry where fellow winemakers sell bottles to collect for us.

That gives us a lot of hope at the moment.

How did your action start?

The original idea came from Linda Kleber, who runs a restaurant in Ahrweiler.

She lost everything in the floods.

The only thing she found in the basement was bottles of wine.

She put it in a family chat, where Daniel Koller read it.

He works in the marketing industry and has taken on that.

Daniel and his team set up a campaign within three or four days.

It usually takes three or four months to do this, he said.

Because we are friends and work together, Linda quickly approached me and said: “Let's do something, not just for me, for everyone.

You vintners supported me so much during the Corona period, now I want to give something back. "

And how does “Flutwein” work?

We set up a crowdfunding campaign via the Startnext platform.

There you can donate for the Ahr winemakers, and as a thank you, the supporters receive the wine that the winemakers were able to save after the flood.

There are single bottles, packs of three or six.

However, our capacity is limited, so that we will soon only be able to offer single bottles.

We want to make the flood wine available to as many people as possible to commemorate the disaster.

How many bottles are there in total?

At the beginning we only made a rough estimate of how many bottles we had available - something between 200,000 and 300,000 it is probably.

These days we are counting that exactly.

So far we can still get there for the campaign, but maybe we'll have to say in a week: Unfortunately there is no more supplies.

So the bottles are not sold, the donors get them as a thank you?

Exactly.

We have set up a non-profit association for the campaign, and we are not interested in making a profit.

As usual with crowdfunding, the donations are collected first, then we send the wine.

That also kept our backs free for the time being.

Two weeks ago, we, the Ahr winemakers, had a whole lot more in mind than organizing the shipment of thousands of bottles.

But we are confident that we can do that by November.

You want to send the bottles as you found them: "original sludge".

Is the wine still okay?

That is the idea behind the action and that is what our donors expect.

But what is also clear: We will not send anything questionable.

That is our quality standard.

The State Investigation Office of Rhineland-Palatinate in Koblenz and the Mayschoss-Altenahr winegrowers' cooperative say that the content is harmless.

This is currently being checked again in the laboratory to be absolutely sure.

What was the moment like when you went into the cellar after the flood to see how many of your bottles were still intact?

I don't live on the winery myself, but on the other side of the Ahr.

My father and my brother live on the winery in Ahrweiler.

Usually it's a distance of one kilometer, otherwise I cycle over there.

After the flood, the bridge no longer existed.

The first day I wanted to hear whether my family was still alive - thank God, yes.

In the evening I was over there for the first time, it was an hour-long journey.

We had to drive over the Eifel onto the autobahn to get over the 61.

Then you get the first overview and you are shocked.

My own life's work, and that of my father, had simply been torn away.

And your vineyards?

This is damage that is often forgotten. We Ahr winemakers estimate that around 50 hectares, around a tenth of the total area under vines on the Ahr, are gone. That means: there are no more vines, no plant. Even if we can plant parts of the area again, we can only count on the first yield in four years. Now we're trying to save what can be saved, but time is running against us. In autumn the harvest is just around the corner, this is the capital of the future. In the past few weeks we have worked on the vineyards independently of the winery, i.e. simply from left to right, across all property boundaries. We had enormous support from colleagues from the other growing regions, from the Moselle and Nahe, from Rheinhessen and the Middle Rhine, but also from Franconia and Luxembourg. You are really proudTo be able to work in such an industry.

How are the other Ahr winemakers?

There are colleagues, there is nothing left: no bottle, no barrel, no machine.

Some also no longer have a house.

The Viticulture Association estimates the value of the lost wine at around 50 million euros.

As macabre as it sounds, the three million euros from the donation campaign are just a drop in the ocean.

The companies that can no longer provide bottles for "flood wine" should nonetheless benefit from the donations.

Especially these winemakers.

How do you distribute the donations?

They are first collected on our joint account, then distributed to all needy Ahr winemakers - regardless of whether they are organized in our club or association or not. Whoever needs help will get it. This is not a one-man show, but an action by all Ahr winemakers for all Ahr winemakers.