Transition to organic viticulture

A significant event of the 2012 season was that we transited to organic viticulture in all vineyards. We had concerns about how it will turn out, but the grapes were of excellent quality. It is difficult to assess, to what extent the weather helped us to protect the vines, but it certainly was easier than under worse weather conditions. In 2012 the lack of precipitation continued. The drought, which began in August 2011, was impeded neither by winter nor by the spring. The drought affected agriculture as a whole. Yields were generally lower, but the quality of crops was very high. This also applies to the vineyards and grapes. It certainly will be an extraordinary vintage.

Extraordinary harvest

Grapes had ripened unusually early and the long lasting high temperatures caused depletion of the malic acid in blue varieties already in the vineyards. Veltliner and Riesling have been picked on September 14, Portugieser 22 September, and finally on 20 October the Blaufränkisch was picked, which was about two weeks earlier than usual. Musts had high sugar content, only the  Portugieser reached hardly 20.5 ° as a consequence of the long lasting drought. According to the old wine growers it was lacking precipitation. It was difficult to estimate what yields to expect, because the berries in bunches were smaller than usual.

Hand (or feet) processed Blaufränkisch

As an experiment toward natural wine production two rows of our Frankovka have been picked only at the end of November and the grapes were processed traditionally by bare feet stomping. The unsulfited mash, placed in our bed-room, started to ferment spontaneously after five days, despite of the very low temperature. During its 26 months of maturation, this precious wine was disturbed only at a minimum, exclusively by hand. Therefore it received the suitable adjective unplugged.

Wines from the 2012 vintage