Time flies and all work comes to an end. It’s like we just started, but the harvest is already done and with it the 2019 wine year lies behind us. Now we can for the first time really make some substantial statements about the vintage’s qualities. In short, we’re very pleased!
Compared to last year’s rich harvest the yield was much lower this year but still good enough. In return, grapes of all varieties developed exceptionelly well, reaching not only high sugar contents but also their full aromatic maturity. That bodes well for the young wines that are now developing in our cellar.
The white wine harvest has been finished a while ago and all have completed their fermentation in our cellar. Now the yeast settles slowly, clarifying the wines more and more every day. Apart from some specialities like our Pinot Blanc Barrique that is. This wine ferments in the small barrels seen on the picture and is stirred up after fermentation regularily for a few more months. This leads to the development of full, soft and complex flavours that are much appreciated for this style of wine.
Red wines are usually harvested later than whites. Then the grapes are sweeter, leading to richer and
darker wines with lots of character. However all of them have been harvested too by now, just not all are
done fermenting yet. Typicly we pick Cabernet Sauvignon last and that was again true this year. Earlier
grapes like St. Laurent and even our Zweigelt have been harvested much earlier and are by now not only
done fermenting, but also pressed (see Photo) and filled into their casks for further ageing.
In
contrast to young whites, sampling young red wines is a difficult task. Right now they are just not fun to
taste, overly bitter, unharmonic and hard on the palate. But we are still looking forward to an
exceptional vintage. After some ageing of course!