Wine Diary
Suspense!
When the tension rises in a thriller even though nothing much is actually happening – apart from birds fluttering briefly or a cat darting across the screen – that’s what we call suspense: and that’s how we’re currently feeling about the situation in our Kamptal vineyards.
Thanks to the utmost care, they’re looking still absolutely marvelous. Following the last significant rainfall at the start of the month, the grapes have experienced an astonishing growth spurt; the foliage is still green and healthy, and the soil is well tended, but now we’re waiting for rain – and even though black clouds keep suddenly rolling in from time to time, the sky refuses to let loose.
At the moment, the vegetation is still about a good week ahead of the average for recent years. For the past few days, however, the vines have put their growth on hold. Just like us, they are biding their time and trying to maintain the status quo. As is so often the case, this situation is a double-edged sword for us winegrowers: the delay in ripening works in our favour; a normal harvest date could mean we achieve a very good result, provided we have cooler temperatures in autumn. With every further dry day, however, yield losses are also to be expected.
Our many daily tasks are adapted to this very specific situation: we water the young vines, which would otherwise have little chance of survival. We continue to thin out the vines, removing surplus shoots whose growth would only drain the plants’ energy unnecessarily; we expose those sections of the vines that are more exposed to the morning sun and are less at risk of sunburn, whilst leaving a little more foliage in other areas to provide sufficient shade. Weeds around the vines continue to be carefully removed to alleviate drought stress. We work and we wait for this dry spell to end with a change in the weather bringing rain.
