Wine Diary
One barrel Heiligenstein
Only two or three workind days until we can say once again "we've done it!" The 2010 vintage has been fully harvested.
The weather must be absolutely dry so that we can harvest the last and perhaps best Riesling Heiligenstein and Grüner Veltliner Käferberg.
During the past week, we harvested Grüner Veltliner Loiser Berg, perhaps the best quality we ever had in that vineyard.
Pips and stalks are now no longer green but have a coffee colour, the grapes are no longer firm to the touch.
A paradoxical situation: it is quite possible that 2010 will have a bad name, as thin and acidic wines come onto the market.
Ten years later only the best wines of the vintage will be remembered, and these will give pleasure for a long time.
The pronounced acidity of this vintage demands an especially long ripening period in the barrel in order to harmonize the acidity within the structure of the wine.
The first wine to be bottled in December will be the Grpner Veltliner L+T (leicht und trocken). In order to remove all aggressivity and give the wines a more satisfying aroma, we will allow some degree of malolactic fermentation even for this wine.
The quantity of the vintage is significantly reduced, not least because of the thick skins and the low juice content of the berries. In many presses, only one half of a litre of grape juice could be realized per kilo of grapes, normally we would achieve 0.6 to 0.7 litres.
For coopers, this will be a bad year. The vintage tends towards lightness and fruit, only few wines will be dimensioned for barrique treatment.
The vintage has shown once again, how much wine producers depend on the weather, how important careful vineyard work is, and that good wine simply requires manual selection. Careful work paid off this year.
If we're lucky and we will have another dry week, we will be able to give a summary of the 2010 harvest in Langenlois.