From vineyard to cellar February/March 2015

Actually, my gut feeling is that we’re dealing with a year without a lot of capricious weather. But who knows. It’s only a feeling. The fact is that we’re in the midst of climate change. Whoever still denies this would surely also deny that the pope is Catholic.

 

Wine-growers are facing completely new challenges. And I don’t just mean the spotted-wing drosophila, a fruit fly that really kept us on our toes last year. By the way, I hope that the subzero temperatures this winter have put an end to this pest or at least greatly reduced the size of its population.

 

It’s becoming increasingly clear that the frequency of precipitation has changed. The overall amount has remained about the same, but the the timing is different. As a result, we’re going to have to adapt our soil management, one of the most important pillars of our work, accordingly.

 

Once again, we’re going to try to accomplish a large portion of our work in the vineyards by following the teachings of Maria Thun. In short, this means doing the right thing at the right time. Maria Thun was an important, pioneering proponent of biodynamic agricultural practices. In particular, she studied the influences of the moon on the growth of plants. A closer look at what initially might seem to be esoteric nonsense is actually quite convincing. The moon has an undeniable influence on a large number of things, particularly water. Members of the lumber industry have long paid particular attention to the moon as a matter of routine. The bottom line for us is to care for our vineyards as responsibly as possible by using all the resources we have at our disposal.

 

At this time, there’s a silence in the cellar...laced with anticipation. For the most part, the basic wines of vintage 2014 have completed fermentation. The wines in the middle and top categories have taken a timeout to wait for warmer temperatures to prompt fermentation to resume. The last of our 2013 wines (!) has now completely fermented and this dry wine will be bottled in the near future. It’s quite an exceptional wine. No small wonder, given that it took 15 months to complete its journey. The term “exceptional” is probably a slight understatement...On the other hand, our forthcoming Pinots are outstanding. The first of vintage 2013 have nearly reached an ideal state and will then be ready for bottling. This vintage has enabled us to come a long way closer to reaching our goal of producing more elegant, sinewy, and vibrant Pinots. At the very peak of the quality pyramid, there’ll also be a “Caviar de Pinot,” the absolutely top cuvée among our Pinot Noirs. It’s a worthy successor to its vintage 2012 counterpart in every way. The new Caviar de Pinot will remain in cask for the time being, only to be bottled – at the earliest – at the end of the year.