From vineyard to cellar May 2013

Spring doesn't seem to be taking place at all; everything happens intermittently. We had an extremely late bud burst, at least compared with recent years. We had a decent amount of rainfall and a brief, intensive warm spell. Then a return to fairly cool weather. During the past few years, I haven't experienced such capricious weather. Nevertheless, everything is growing - and growing well. To some extent, growth is even explosive.

 

As I write these lines, we're removing the so-called double and stunted shoots. These are shoots that rob the vine of energy and contribute nothing. They bear fruit, but the grapes have no flavor.

 

At the beginning of May, we planted three hectares (ca. 7.5 acres) of new vineyards in Hallgarten, two of which are quite steep. Naturally, we only planted Riesling. Plant spacing is quite dense. This type of plantation forces the vines to form deep roots quickly, which is precisely what we want. We feel that's the best route to take, particularly in the steep and fairly barren parcels in the upper reaches of Hallgarten.

 

At the end of May, the annual plant protection measures begin again. This year, we'll pay even more attention to working in a more sustainable and ecologically relevant manner, with a particular focus on strengthening the plants, i.e., the vines.

 

In the cellar, bottling has been completed with one exception: we still have to bottle our top-quality, site-specific wines. These will be bottled the first week of June. Up until now, we've just separated the wines from the lees; otherwise, they've basically been left untouched. It's amazing how ripe and rounded 2012 tastes. We've come a step closer to reaching our goal of "putting origin into the bottle."