News

November 2018
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Wine year

Review of the 2018 vintage

The earliest flowering and vintage we ever had

The vintage 2018 started with an unusual long, cold, and damp winter. Especially during pruning the vines, our team had very cold fingers and the ongoing rain wasn’t really a reason to celebrate. But we were to be very thankful for precipitation later in the year. Vegetation started early, even flowering. The vines evolved rapidly and the vegetation advantage from two to three weeks could be sustained until the harvest.
From Pentecost the weather was hot and dry. On the one hand we weren’t afraid of pests and diseases, on the other precipitation only occurred with thunderstorms. It was unpredictable and strongly different in each region. On 20th August harvest started as early as never before.
Very relaxed, we picked ripe and absolutely healthy grapes. The sequence was really unusual, a real cross-over. Silvaner earlier than Müller-Thurgau, and our VDP.GROSSE GEWÄCHSE earlier than VDP.ORTSWEINE und VDP.ERSTE LAGEN. But a great flexibility is important during the harvest.
To sum everything up, the constant quality of the vintage is outstanding and unique. Key for that is the exoneration of our vineyards by reducing yield and ‘gentle pruning’.

Time of harvest
From 20th August until 18th September 2018

Maturity
Early and fast flowering resulted in a homogenous berry ripening. Great bunches with perfect physiological ripeness. Noble sweet qualities didn’t show noble rot, but almost only raisin-concentration.

Sensory and characteristic
Intense and playful aromas – a vintage that opens very early in the glass with great drinking pleasure. On the palate ripe fruitiness but not overwhelming. Pears, quinces, bananas and ripe apples are the predominant aromas of this vintages’ Silvaner. Subtle and complex. A great grape variety-typicity. Fresh acid structure caused by an early harvest and a moderate alcohol content. Charming fruit and enamel. Very complex and long lasting.

Maturity potential & storability
Usually, the hottest vintages have surprised us with our premium-wines and mainly in terms of the maturity potential of Silvaner. The vintages 2003, 2009 und 2012 have ripened excellently. Therefore, we expect a long bottle storability of our premium quality wines. Especially with the wines of VDP.ERSTE LAGE und VDP.GROSSES GEWÄCHS, which were spontaneously fermented and show a dense structure.