Falstaff Pinot Trophy 2013

Just like last year, Andi Kollwentz didn't leave the competition any chance in the flight of wood-matured Chardonnays:

Tatschler 2011 plays here in a league of its own.

 

Among the 'classic' Chardonnays, Franz Lentsch from Poderserdorf was just able to edge Andi out with the Chardonnay Leithagebirge 2012, scored equally on points.

 

The traditional Grand Finale of the tasting presents the more mature wines of the Pinot family, vintage 2009 and older.

This is a testimony to the aging potential of white wine from Burgenland, and wine-lovers can rest assured on this account.

In this prestigious category it was Toni Hartl from Riesenberg—with his Chardonnay Reserve 2009—who won the crown,

while Andi Kollwentz was obliged—with his even-on-points Chardonnay 2008 from top site Gloria—to yield the day.

 

Weingut Kollwentz

Burgenland

www.kollwentz.at

Green harvest complete!

We're finished with thinning-out the Zweigelt and the Blaufränkisch; the summery heat has dried up the discarded grapes. The clusters of Blaufränkisch

remaining on the vine are beginning to change colour, while the Zweigelt is nearly through with the process.

 

Last night it rained—10 litres per square metre—for which we are very thankful!

 

Weingut Kollwentz

Burgenland

www.kollwentz.at

39.8° in Ried Setz-(103°F)

July 2013 brought with it heat and dryness—an average of 24.1° (75°F), and only 3 litres of rain per square metre (in 2012 it was nearly 150 litres), along with a top temperature

of 39.8°C in the foliage wall! This serves to remind us exactly how important detailed canopy-management and a well thought-out soil cultivation programme are.

 

Weingut Kollwentz

Burgenland

www.kollwentz.at

 

The Green Harvest

For several days now we've been occupied with thinning the crop, known as ‘the green harvest.’ The number of clusters will be reduced, which ensures full ripening of the remaining grapes. 

The two to three clusters per shoot are reduced to one—and it's of no small importance, which cluster remains; as a rule, it's the lowest one on the shoot. 

And if possible, it should hang without any contact to the other bunches of grapes, and spend a decent amount of time each day in the sunshine—although too much sun

would mean sunburn, just like for the people working the vines.

It's easy to see that this calls for particularly meticulous work, and costs us more time in the vineyard than any other activity during the grower's year.

 

Weingut Kollwentz

Burgenland

www.kollwentz.at

We've got boundless energy, where our vineyards are concerned!

The shoots have achieved their full length, and will now be pruned to half a
metre above the topmost wire. This prevents the shoot from snapping off at
the wire, and any resultant reduction in the height of the canopy. There
should be about 10-25 primary leaves on each shoot. More leaves than this
costs the vine too much energy, while too few leaves lead
to inadequate development of sugar in the cluster. An exacting job; rotating
knives are used to trim the shoots.

Weingut Kollwentz
Burgenland
www.kollwentz.at

Cultivation of the Soil, Part Two

We also cultivate the soil between the individual vines. With the Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir, as well as the Cabernet, we use a swivel-mounted arm which crumbles the soil

and chops up the vegetation. One certain disadvantage of this is the speed— .8 - 1.3 kilometres per hour. The advantage, compared with more aggressive and incisive systems, is that it forms no furrows, which

could lead to earth washing away during the next heavy rainfall.

Weingut Kollwentz

Burgenland

www.kollwentz.at

Cultivation of the Soil-Part 1, the Disc Harrow.

Now that the vines are finished with flowering—under ideal weather conditions, btw—we turn our attention to matters concerning the soil and its cultivation. Recent rainfall deposited some 120 litres of water per square metre onto our vineyards, which the ground happily accepted. And since we've had such heat in the past couple days, the topsoil is in perfect condition for cultivation. In our Pannonian climate, we have to reckon nowadays with increasing dryness, and for this reason we only did a cursory job of working over every other row. For this, depending upon the condition of the ground, we use  a cultivator—or as you see in the pictures, a disc harrow. Because of the contrary disposition of the discs and the oblique angle of their relation to one another, the soil is only lightly broken up, and the vegetation slightly chopped and lightly worked into the soil. This breaks up the capillary layers in the ground, hence reduces the amount of water lost to evaporation.

 

Weingut Kollwentz

Burgenland

www.kollwentz.at