Wine Diary
September Rain
Above average precipitation in early September combined with high humidity have lead to massive problems in many European wine regions.
In Northern Italy and Austria, berries have started to burst, mainly in lower elevation vineyards near the water.
On the hills of Kamptal, we could soon suffer the same fate. Yet cool nights and dry weather during the coming weeks still may save the day, and eventually produce excellent, ripe fruit.
In regions close to the Atlantic Sea, as well as in Loire Valley and Champagne, we regularly observe comparably humid weather at the beginning of Autumn. Due to these conditions, our sekt base wines for this year, most of which has already been harvested, will be very similar to those of Champagne: lightness, freshness and a fragrantly elegant style will characterise the 2014 sekt vintage.
Typically, dry weather leads to intensive aromas and wines rich in tannin. Humid and shady times enhance green, fresh, fruity wines with less tannin. Kamptal is often blessed with a beautiful and dry autumn.
2014 will be an exceptional year, whether exceptionally good or exceptionally bad is not yet to say for sure, only time will tell.
During our selective picking it is absolutely necessary to look closely at every cluster from all sides and cut out the parts affected by fungus. Only healthy grapes are allowed to go to the press.
Green cover crops between the vine rows prove to be very helpful this year as the plants absorb a substantial part of the moisture.
However, the young vines with shallow root systems may suffer from over saturation.
Deeply rooted old vines are less vulnerable to the abundant rains, growing 5-10 meters deep into the soil. At that depth, the moisture from winter and spring still remains - meaning almost normal conditions.