Grape harvest 2023

H a r v e s t – r e p o r t 2 0 2 0

In our vineyards the year 2020 was not an easy year until autumn for harvesting. Basically we had a good start and a very good summer. The rainfall distribution this year was very unbalanced and therefore we could not achieve ideal ripening constants in every location. The biggest problem was, besides fungal infestation, the very strong growth...we spent sooo many hours with leaf work and pruning in the vineyard...we almost set up our bed in the vineyard... the last third until harvest was quite satisfying at least in August...

The great summer heat then led to an early harvest for the valley sites and the lower sites and for the higher sites to a later harvest than expected due to weather changes - finding the right "reading window" was quite challenging!

All in all, it was a good to very good and sometimes even exceptional vintage, especially for the white wines in our sites above 450 m. The Vernatsch suffered a little from the humid air at the end of September and the Suzuki fly. Nevertheless, through careful selection we were able to achieve a very good result again... although we lost about 25%... but very good quality. The good weather in the second half of September gave us optimal harvest times again, especially for our Lagrein - therefore a very good Lagrein vintage 2020...J October started rainy and this slowed down the development and phenolic ripening - a problem for grape varieties and sites that ripen later. Nevertheless, with patience and a lot of sorting (almost 50% lost) we were able to achieve a very good result with varieties such as Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot.

C o n c l u s i o n : In order to meet our high quality standards, we had to cut out about 30%-50% and hold out for a long time - until mid-October - so that we could harvest the Amistar top qualities with the optimal maturity in terms of taste, which we will hopefully be able to taste together in the glass.