From vineyard to cellar

Unfortunately, the hard frost happened too late. The grapes we had saved for ice wine were no longer in good shape. Of course, we still could have produced an ice wine, but in order to make it drinkable, we would have had to pull out all the stops...use all kinds of fining agents and other means of cellar technology. But because this is precisely what we don’t want to do, we opted to skip vintage 2011 ice wine. Instead of producing ice wine, we calmly proceeded to prune our vines – routine work, yet one of the most important tasks of the year. It sets the stage for vintage 2012.

In the cellar, on the other hand, things are bustling. We’ve begun filtering our basic wines. Slowly but surely, we need to start bottling a few wines – stocks are nearly depleted. The hustle and bustle is positive, though. I’m extremely curious about how the wines will taste after filtration. The yeast is still masking some things, but an experienced taster is able to reasonably assess a wine’s potential even if it is still somewhat cloudy. Only after filtration can a more accurate evaluation be made. The first of our filtered wines are quite clear, with expressive fruit, and a ripe, juicy acidity.

We’re especially interested in the wines that are still fermenting, i.e., they have a way to go. With our temperatures at present, things have come to a standstill. But I’m certain that at some point in time, fermentation will kick in again. After all, we’re not in a hurry...

Best regards,

Dirk Würtz, estate manager