Wine Diary
Sun, Wind, Clouds, Rain and “weeping” vines
For several weeks now the weather has kept us on our toes: dry, cool, and sunny phases in March have turned into a truly “moody” April with sun, clouds, wind, rain and sleet showers. These conditions have again slowed down vegetation a bit, however, now we are shortly before bud break. This means we are quite well off in comparison to a long-term average.
Every spring, we enjoy watching the awakening of the vines: the juice has moved from the roots into the veins of the plant bringing along all necessary nutrients to let the buds swell and finally burst. For a short time, this watery solution also emerges at the tips of the freshly pruned vines and forms big drops finally falling to the ground. The vines are “bleeding” or “weeping” as some say. It could be tears of joy too – welcoming the return of spring!
At present, we profit from some spare time to build or repair stone walls in order to secure our Terraces on the Langenloiser “Schenkenbichl”. Our Kamptal soils have finally imbibed a bit of water, and so we start to bring out our spring sowings, tilling very lightly every second green covered tramline between the vines. A bit of rain may have eased the situation, nevertheless we have to maintain humidity in the soils as much as possible.