Weingut Bründlmayer

Like when a marathon runner who is in the lead, with the finish line in sight, falls into a light trot, savouring the final meters, so must the last harvest days of vintage 2012 be experienced by our team. We were able to bring in the Riesling grapes for the “Alte Reben” from Heiligenstein before the first Autumn storms would have swept them to the ground. (The stems of Riesling vines are much less tough than those of Grüner Veltliner).Last week, we harvested the Grüners from “Lamm”, “Käferberg” and “Spiegel.” Now we continue to get Grüner Velltiner grapes from various smaller parcels of old vineyards around Langenlois which will build the Grüner Veltliner “Alte Reben” blend.

Those who where afraid, will be relieved now, and those who slept deeply will have saved some more energy to celebrate, as the grapes were (and still are) great! To put it in a nut shell: a harvest like out of a book! – with everything a vintner’s heart desires: elegant entry-level qualities of astonishing freshness, pure tightly-structured classics in white AND red, with great fruit and varietal characteristics, and now the single vineyard reserves in “full orchestra”!

Weather reports show a stable high pressure, everyday the sun comes through the autumn mist for a few hours. It is quite cold, yet there is no severe frost in sight. Next week we might finish harvest with an “Auslese” or “Beerenauslese”. Maybe the cool and therefore dry air will push the shriveled berries to a TBA? ... Hopefully not, for me personally, a TBA often seems a bit too much of a good thing, I prefer sweet wines of a high Auslese or Beerenauslese level.