Grape harvest 2024
Harvest report
As a leap year, this year is one of the most challenging vintages in viticulture. Due to the very rainy weather until the end of June, we had very high levels of fungal diseases such as Peronospora and Oidium in particular. With a lot of hard work and precision in the vineyard, we were able to keep the vines healthy and hope for a good summer and autumn. The development of the weather in the summer was then characterised by extreme heat from July onwards. It was really very sunny until the end of August and so the ripening process actually continued quite well. Of course, these high temperatures were not ideal for all grape varieties or all sites. Nevertheless, we were able to achieve a similar level of ripeness to the 2023 vintage. There was very good quality across the board, but the planned quantities per vine were sometimes far from what was expected. Due to several factors this year, between late frost in spring, trickling due to the heavy rainfall during the flowering period and drought stress, we simply had less grape or berry weight and thus volume losses of up to 30% or even 50% for some varieties. Unfortunately, we also had a very rainy September and it wasn't until 10 October that the beautiful autumn weather returned.
At the moment we are still waiting and hoping for constant autumn weather for our red grape varieties, such as Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. These varieties are not yet fully ripe and therefore clear autumn weather with sunny days and cool nights would be ideal...
Conclusion:
2024 is a very challenging vintage all round. The quality of the white and red grape varieties was very good, but some of the sites were not so good. We waited in vain for a very long time for the ideal harvest time for certain sites with our reds. The weather was simply very difficult this year. A rainy September and a relatively wet October did not give the grapes much of a chance to ripen. In the end, we can be very satisfied that we were still able to harvest some very good batches despite these major ripening difficulties, especially with late-ripening reds. In addition to Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon and Chardonnay, Pinot Noir also achieved very good quality results this year. Vernatsch and Lagrein were unfortunately only mediocre to good. A few batches of Cabernet and Merlot, on the other hand, fortunately achieved quite good results. We will definitely have fewer Riserva qualities from this vintage, especially with the late-ripening reds. The white wines and Pinot Noir, on the other hand, will certainly show very good qualities again, perhaps with a somewhat leaner and more elegant expression.
Stephan P. Sölva
At the moment we are still waiting and hoping for constant autumn weather for our red grape varieties, such as Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. These varieties are not yet fully ripe and therefore clear autumn weather with sunny days and cool nights would be ideal...
Conclusion:
2024 is a very challenging vintage all round. The quality of the white and red grape varieties was very good, but some of the sites were not so good. We waited in vain for a very long time for the ideal harvest time for certain sites with our reds. The weather was simply very difficult this year. A rainy September and a relatively wet October did not give the grapes much of a chance to ripen. In the end, we can be very satisfied that we were still able to harvest some very good batches despite these major ripening difficulties, especially with late-ripening reds. In addition to Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon and Chardonnay, Pinot Noir also achieved very good quality results this year. Vernatsch and Lagrein were unfortunately only mediocre to good. A few batches of Cabernet and Merlot, on the other hand, fortunately achieved quite good results. We will definitely have fewer Riserva qualities from this vintage, especially with the late-ripening reds. The white wines and Pinot Noir, on the other hand, will certainly show very good qualities again, perhaps with a somewhat leaner and more elegant expression.
Stephan P. Sölva