Harvest report 2013

A long and cold winter brings later bud shoots of about two weeks to pale in comparison to the previous vintages. Fortunately temperature did not fall lower than 0° Celsius in April and May. So there has luckily been no frost damage this year.

Heavy rain showers in the Western part of Austria let the Danube overflow. It has been the second highest level of the Danube in history. Lots of vineyards are under water, the cleaning procedures are enormous. Luckily, most of the villages stay dry because of newly built protective walls.

The Riesling vines blossom between the 13th and the 16th of June, the Grüner Veltliners a bit later at the 22nd of June. A temperature shock appears to cause big blossom damages and a loss of more than 30 percent: the temperature fell from +35 degrees down to +10 degrees Celsius within two days.

One extreme weather event follows the next one. A heat wave in which the temperature climbs to over +35 Degrees, cause water shortage for the vines. So irrigation especially on our primary rock soils are necessary.

This season’s autumn offers cool temperatures, the acid values stay a bit higher and the alcohol values lower.