Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler (Germany) (AFP)

"We want to bring wine back to life": for the Ahr wine region, bottles covered in mud, taken out of flooded cellars, represent the hope of a new start after the deadly floods that hit Germany there at three weeks.

"I told myself that we could not just throw everything away", recalls Linda Kleber, at the origin of the solidarity initiative "Flutwein" ("Raw wine"), born while she was going out, one by one. one, the smeared bottles from his destroyed restaurant.

The thousands of bottles rescued from farms in the region are now offered for sale and delivered - in memory of the disaster - as they were found, frozen in the earthy sediments.

Unique pieces.

The money raised, more than 2.2 million euros to date, "gives a lot of hope to all winegrowers but also to the catering sector", confides Peter Kriechel, winegrower and president of the local professional association , immediately thrilled by the idea of ​​Mrs. Kleber.

In its own warehouse, some 200,000 bottles took water during the night of July 14 to 15.

"I think we are facing a long marathon" and "actions like Flutwein are helping us get started", estimates the 38-year-old producer.

- 'A tsunami' -

In this valley famous for the Pinot Noir which grows on the steep slopes, the economy largely depends on the wine and the tourism it generates.

Peter Kriechel, 38-year-old winegrower and president of the local trade association, as well as the winemakers Linda (49) and Jorg Kleber (52), behind the solidarity initiative "Flutwein" ("Wine flood "), in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler (western Germany), July 30, 2021 Bernd Lauter AFP

"Without wine, the Ahr valley does not exist, and even less its gastronomy", confirms Jörg Kleber, husband of Linda.

In total, the natural disaster, which killed 225 people in Europe, including 187 in Germany, destroyed between 5% and 10% of the Ahr vines.

But the damage is much heavier on machines, cellars, damaged or even destroyed farms.

Paul Schuhmacher is one of those who lost a lot.

"It was not a normal flood, but a tsunami," said the 63-year-old producer.

Just before the water rushed into his house, Mr. Schuhmacher went downstairs to make sure that the caps sealing the barrels were all in place.

"I took a big hammer and ran into the cellar," he recalls.

Then, he and his wife took refuge on the first floor, "but the water very quickly rose to more than a meter", says the winegrower, still moved.

They ended up spending part of the night on their roof.

Half a hectare out of five of his estate was destroyed.

The ground floor of his house, where the restaurant was also located, is still covered in mud.

Yet this veteran of the profession intends to harvest and produce a vintage this year because "viticulture must survive, we are the engine of this region".

The manufacture on site, in Ahrweiler, remains very uncertain.

But winemakers in neighboring regions have promised to help them harvest and vinify.

- 'Many will leave' -

Faced with the biggest natural disaster in recent decades in Germany, Angela Merkel's government has already released initial emergency aid worth several hundred million euros to deal with the most urgent.

Bottles of wine covered with mud, as part of the solidarity initiative "Flutwein" ("Raw wine"), in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler (west of Germany), July 30, 2021 Bernd Lauter AFP

This aid will be supplemented by a reconstruction program which will amount to several billion euros.

However, the Ahr valley "will not be as before": "many will leave and will not rebuild their houses", predicts Mr. Schuhmacher.

An option that the Kleber couple do not consider for a moment, even if their old restaurant, in the center of Ahrweiler, is nothing more than ruins.

Kitchen, bar, dining room, garden ... after the clearing, nothing remains of the "Kleber's", except the walls, on which a brown and muddy trace recalls the unimaginable height reached by the water.

"It was starting to resume" after the months of forced shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, laments Jörg Kleber, cook by profession.

But the Covid-19 "was nothing" compared to the forces that unleashed in less than an hour on the night of the tragedy.

There will be a new "Kleber's" elsewhere, promises the chef.

"Our friends and our life are here" and maybe with the catastrophe "we have even become even more rooted".

© 2021 AFP