Weingut Bründlmayer

This year we expect a vintage of great quality, yet lower than average in quantity. A long winter and a spring with plenty of rain promise freshness and spice, while the warm and sunny summer brings ripeness and sweetness. September began beautifully with the warm days and cool nights that form Kamptal’s typical aromatic expression. We have been lured into the vineyards to begin harvesting grapes for ‘Sekt’ base wines. These early grapes will bring lightness, verve and freshness to the ‘Cuvée’, whereas richer fruit will stem from those harvested some sunny autumn days later. The first grapes are a real pleasure, no better way to start! However the future weather conditions will be the crucial factor: warm days and cool nights, a little shower now and then, but no big rains, that’s how we hope autumn will be.
 
A careful harvest from the first day onward is equally important: For instance, to get a really fine and persistent ‘perlage’ into our Bründlmayer Sparkling Brut, grapes never may swim in the must. Any sick and withering sections have to be cut off the bunches, only healthy grapes must be laid in small boxes – laid carefully! -  not just dropped down from above! Careful treatment with the absolute best grape material is of utmost importance. Only then will our sparkling wines impress with elegance and finesse after their long maturation period!
 
Moreover these grapes will never be pumped, just poured from the small boxes into the press. There about half a liter of juice will be extracted from every kilogram of fruit. Gravity replaces the pumping of the must. The juice is gravity-fed directly out of the press into the fermentation vats below, and later again is transferred one more level down to slowly ripen in the deep historic cave which acts as our aging cellar.

Willi Bründlmayer