Almond blossoms & pruning the vines.

Rather mysteriously, the almond trees began flowering before Christmas, and
now - mid-February - they are in full bloom.

We're nearly done pruning our grapevines, and we are happy for the mostly
overcast weather,
since it encourages the vine to remain in its healthy Winter dormancy.

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Pruning the Methusalemreben

For weeks now we have been busy with the pruning.

Here for decades, with the ancient Sauvignon Blanc 'Methusalem vines' in the
Ried Steinmühle, cane stubs have been trimmed onto a cordon.

The knotty and knobby vines thus formed yield a small harvest of the finest
wines..

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Vinotheque

We set aside and put away a number of bottles from each wine in every
vintage.

For us as winegrowers, in tasting the mature wines we derive valuable
information about the individual vintages, weather conditions and methods of
vinification.

And more importantly, the cellarworthiness of the wines allows us to draw
conclusions concerning their quality.

Vertical tastings like the oenophile's journey through time 'Six Decades of
Steinzeiler' confirm this in an impressive fashion.

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Racking the Reds

Following a maceration period of more than three weeks, our various
Blaufränkisch and the Cabernet Sauvignon were drawn off the skins during the
last couple of weeks.
After feeding the free-run juice (about 80% of the total) into barriques,
our next task involves emptying out the mash and pressing it.
The press wine is then decanted separately into its own barriques.
And we are very excited to follow the further development of this great
vintage!

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Crossing the Finish Line!

The wonderful weather blessed us with terrific Blaufränkisch and Cabernet
Sauvignon grapes to conclude the harvest.

2015 is one of the best vintages of the past 50 years!

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Blaufränkisch in the Ried Setz

Today it is sunny and windy. Historically, the Blaufränkisch grapes in the
Setz are the earliest to ripen.

Despite this we picked the Ried Point first out of respect for the
threatening rain, since the soils there are more moisture-retentive, and
there is a danger of the vines pumping too much water into the grapes.

Setz, with its light fossil-rich soil of limestone and slate is very quick
to despatch water into the deeper layers of the ground, so that the berries
remain unaffected.
They are fully ripe and sweet, with crisp skins. Many are shrivelled-up, but
in a healthy condition.

The sugar-gradation is extremely high, reinforcing our estimate of the
vintage's superior quality.

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The first of the Blaufränkisch

The weather forecasters are promising rain for the weekend.
So with all the hands we can muster, we are picking as much of the
Blaufränkisch grapes in our Ried Point as quickly as we can.
We can already see shrivelled berries in healthy shape, no botrytis, which
is the hallmark of a great vintage.
And the weather held off—we've done with harvesting the Point.

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