As beautiful as our Grüner Veltliner grapes are this year – they are few and far between. We are looking forward to a truly great year, but the amount is tiny.

The wonderful September has advanced ripening greatly. Never before have our grapes matured so quickly. Early October brought a radical cooling down with cool, clear full moon and night time temperature lows of 4°C. This all contributes to the aroma of our grapes, concentrating aroma and spice.

Slowly but surely, we have started harvesting all grape varieties; the youngest vines first, to protect them from stress. Apart from Grüner Veltliner and a little Riesling, we also harvested Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Zweigelt and St Laurent. Half of the Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris for our sekt wine are already in the winery.

There are currently dozens of theories making the rounds among wine growers why it should be particularly the Grüner Veltliner and not the Riesling that was so damaged by rain, and will be so much rarer this vintage. We don’t want to add to the hubbub with a theory of our own. We just take it as it comes.