From vineyard to cellar September 2013

Everything is proceeding according to plan - that's all I can say at the moment.

 

The weather is perfect and when I look into my crystal ball, it will stay that way for the time being. Summer doesn't seem to want to move on - if anything, it's seamlessly turning into late summer. If things stay that way, the harvest could be a real pleasure. Emphasis here is on the word "if."

 

The vineyards are all in pretty good shape. We're in high gear with final "cosmetic touches." In some sites, we still need to remove leaves in the grape zone. Thick foliage, in particular, now has to go. But as always, everything has to be done carefully and cautiously. This year, we'll have to wait quite a while for the grapes to reach the ripeness and perfect aromas we want. It wasn't and isn't really necessary to remove a lot leaves this year. While we're doing this, we'll also remove some clusters, particularly in top sites. Yields must be further reduced this year. It's painful to part with these clusters, but there's no way around it. Especially in very good sites there are really a lot of grapes still hanging on the vines and I seriously doubt that they'll all ripen sufficiently. In short: some have to go. However, we don't simply leave the clusters on the ground. We remove them from the vineyard and compost them. Of course, that's more time consuming but ultimately makes more sense. You don't simply leave the fruit of a year on the ground.

 

In terms of the quality of the vintage: it's too soon to tell. It's been an unusual year, at least with regard to the weather thus far. Whether it will also be an unusual vintage: I don't know. I'll only know more after I've had a chance to actually taste the grapes. And at this point in time, that would definitely not be a pleasure.