Riesling Harvest at the Heiligenstein

The Kamptal’s Privileged Grapes

A great wine is always the result of a delicate balance between too much moisture, stress due to dryness, heat and cold.

While grapes are rotting in the plain along the Danube, the cool, dry air of the Kamptal terraces has given us a sensational autumn, and with it a truly great vintage.

This is true only for those producers who have done their homework: merciless pruning, small yields, freeing up of the grapes for maximum exposure to the autumn sun. The aromas of the grapes remind of the legendary 1997 and 1985 vintages, which were particularly successful in hilly vineyards like the Heiligenstein.

This week is devoted to the Riesling harvest. The grapes of the Heiligenstein are wonderfully ripe, dried by the autumn wind and showing gorgeous fruit.

While a large part of the Riesling is being harvested now in order to avoid overripeness, the vineyards Lamm and Käferberg will have a little more time to ripen in the November weather.