Status report by Dirk Würtz, our estate manager - 16 August

Since the last update of vintage 2011, the weather has been moderate to poor. The tremendous precipitation and rather high temperatures are just what we didn’t need. Where the clusters are quite compact, the danger of rot increases day by day. There’s no cause for panic, but simply an observation. If it remains dry now – which is what we hope – the existing small patches of mold will dry out. If not, one must simply remain watchful and in case of doubt, remove the infested clusters. But as mentioned: there’s no great cause for concern yet.

The grapes continue to develop well, despite the rain, and must weights are constantly rising. The other day, a colleague said he feared 2011 would turn out to be like 2010. I can’t completely agree with him. I can’t for the life of me imagine that in 2011 we’ll have to deacidify one single batch of juice – I’m almost willing to bet on it. In some regions, it seems that Frühburgunder has already been harvested or will be shortly. Spätburgunder, at least here, has almost completely changed in color. In the next few days, we’ll remove all clusters that haven’t yet turned red.

There’s little change in the potential harvest schedule at the moment. As things now stand, we’ll probably begin between the 12th and 18th of September. At this moment, it looks as though there could be a good-sized quantity. After the extremely small crop in 2010, that would truly be a blessing.