From vineyard to cellar June / July 2015

We’ve loosened the earth in many of our vineyards and reseeded. We put our trust in a seed mixture that ensures biodiversity. This year we also began to change our green cover, mulching less, and rolling more often. These measures support the whole process.

 

Bottling of the 2014 wines is now in full gear. The basic, entry-level wines have had a chance to achieve balance and are now ripe, round, and juicy. The acidity is noticeably more harmonious at this stage in time than was the case a year ago with our 2013 wines. All things considered, the 2014 wines are developing into an exceptional vintage. This was not foreseeable from the start. It’s all the nicer to now “see and taste” the success of our enormous efforts. The labor-intensive process of selection, over and over again, paid off. Overall, quantities are smaller than desired, but qualities are excellent.

 

The great, premium wines are all still resting in cask as they continue to develop. It’s already clear that there won’t be a dry Riesling from the Wisselbrunnen site in 2014. Despite an absolutely painstaking selection, we’ve consciously decided to forgo this wine. It simply lacks the depth and substance we expect. Schlossberg musts are still fermenting and need more time. A portion of our Schlossberg wines will have some residual sweetness. They will be very exceptional wines that we’ll be showing in autumn. The wines from the Rottland and Nussbrunnen sites have completely fermented (i.e. are dry in style); they’re resting on the coarse lees, which are stirred periodically (battonage).