Wine Diary
Possibly a Historic Vintage!
Start of the 2011 Harvest
the wonderful weather during the spring shooting period and a varied summer with very hot as well as less friendly days and moderate rainfalls have led to excellent grape ripeness.
We already have to hurry to prevent the sekt base wine from becoming too heavy – the temperatures of up to 30 degrees Celsius force us to start picking five o’clock in the morning and to finish by midday. Some fifty percent of the grapes are harvested now, mostly those higher up, which is a relief to the vineyard workers, because they don’t have to bend down too much. These grapes will produce an ideal, light and fine base wine for our vintage sekt and Brut rosé, which should not have more than 11% of alcohol.
The remaining grapes will wait in the vineyard for the main harvest in early October, when they will produce rounded wines with moderate acidity.
Judging today, the question “what will the 2011 vintage be like?” can be answered confidently. Possibly it will be a historic vintage, one that comes along once in a century. Will it be the worthy successor of the legendary 1961 vintage? The weather during the last days of autumn picking will make all the difference.