Wine Diary
Heavy hailstorm crashes start of harvest!
A raging hailstorm crossed over the Krems- and Kamptal on Sept 13th causing severe damage to the wine region and devastating several sites of neighbouring growers. Some of our vineyards too have been heavily harmed. However, a quick check showed to our great relief that most probably we got away with a black eye:
The damage though is not just a ‘fender bender’ (if this comparison may be allowed). For the coming days this will mean all hands on deck in order to save the quality of the vintage while minimizing the quantity losses. First, we will harvest the heavier damaged vineyards as fast as possible to avoid any potential infections. Grapes are still in perfect health and our need for Sekt base wines this year is strong, so, here we still have lots to gain.
Thankfully, we are getting personnel reinforcements from neighbouring wine districts, and with the combined forces over the weekend, we will manage a careful preselection of all less affected vineyards. Therefore, each grape on the vines will have to be inspected. Today we have begun to pre-select top hail-damaged sites such as Lamm 1 ÖTW under perfect weather conditions. Next Monday, if we progress as hoped for, we will so-to-speak end up where, a week ago we had departed full of confidence.
Some spectacular damage, such as the breakdown of one of our most prominent stone walls on Heiligenstein (already secured) may wait for repair as harvest, of course, has priority.
Well then, back to square one! We will make every effort to ensure a fine vintage 2023!
