Wine Diary
Selective Riesling harvest
After laying a solid foundation for the 2025 vintage in the first “half,” we now need a lot of perseverance in the second part of the harvest. With the cool, repeatedly damp, and windy weather, it is becoming increasingly selective. Last week, we devoted most of our time to the sensitive Riesling. In warmer, wind-protected, or slightly deeper soils, ripening had recently progressed rapidly. Carefully selecting all healthy grape parts required experience, time, and a lot of patience. In doing so, we accept that we will have to discard significant quantities of Riesling grapes to ultimately meet the high Bründlmayer quality standards. We left some grapes with well-developed noble rot on the vines. Perhaps there will be another Prädikatswein for the first time since 2018.
Today, the sun should still be shining through the clouds. With the best plots on the Heiligenstein, we want to bring the Riesling harvest to a successful conclusion.
Grüner Veltliner is very resistant thanks to its firm skins and is still maturing in the best vineyards, such as Loiserberg, Käferberg, Spiegel, and Lamm. The sight of the green-gold grapes is a delight to the eye, and their flavor has gained further character thanks to cool nights close to freezing. Next week, we will complete the final stage of the 2025 harvest in these vineyards.
