– Vintage 2020 –

The April with a lot of sunshine, after bud break at the usual time, facilitated a fast development of the vines. It stayed warm and very dry, thus the flowering ended with the first days of June. Afterwards the much-desired rain came and normalised the vegetative development of the vines and cover crops. The summer had both, a lot of hot days and rainfall. Hence, the risk of fungal diseases was omnipresent and a good canopy management was particularly important.

Due to the rainfall the vines could develop stress-free. Compared to recent years the veraison began in 2020 a bit later. The harvest started Monday 14 September with Sauvignon Blanc grapes. Within this first week we also harvest our Pinot Noir and Zweigelt grapes, which although being dense clustered were very healthy. Cool nights at that time stimulated the production of fruity acidity in the white wine grapes which combined with high sugar contents makes for storable wines, similar to those of 2019.

Only Blaufränkisch grapes had to be harvested more carefully and selectively due to infestations of the fruit fly. This, however, was an easy task for our experienced harvesting team. Chardonnay grapes were brought in without difficulty and so were Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, which concluded the main harvest on 5 October. The yield 2020 was with 35 hl/ha even lower than the already low average yield of the winery of 40 hl/ha.

The rainy days in October hindered new seedings of cover crops but the weather was beneficial for the further development of noble rot. A few dry days with sun and wind were decisive in completing the trilogy (white, red, sweet). On 18 November, a beautiful sunny autumn day, we completed the harvest with a Chardonnay Botrytis selection.