Heading for the finish line with Blaufränkisch!

Saint Peter has us in his good books, and we are taking advantage of the
marvellous autumn weather to pick our Blaufränkisch.

The clusters are perfectly ripened, healthy through and through – and the
harvesting crew is working accordingly, at a brisk tempo.

In the cellar we barely have time to execute the usual tasks, but as my
Auntie always says: 'It's often like that, this time of year…'

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Harvesting the Gloria

The autumn weather was truly magnificent - we went to pick our Chardonnay in
the highest-elevation vineyard in the Leithagebirge, the Ried Gloria
Marvellously ripened and healthy clusters, kissed by the sun - a foretaste
of greatness.

This vineyard-directory-on-a-post shows the way and the distance to some of
the most important vineyards (as well as some of the most significant
wineproducing regions) in the world.

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Ried Setz - Blaufränkisch

Here we have the loveliest autumn weather one could wish for, and are
picking the Blaufränkisch in our vineyard Ried Setz.

The clusters have small berries, often quite loosely bunched – this thanks
to to the hot summer, as well as the meticulous care we took with foliage
canopy management and cultivating the soils.

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Filling the barrels

Our casks – Burgundian 'pièces' – are now being filled.

Katerstein, Tatschler and Neusatz are in the cellar, and on Wednesday we'll
get started at harvesting the Gloria…

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Neusatz

Thanks to cold temperatures, the rainy weather we had on Tuesday and
Wednesday did not damage the clusters,
and the thriving greencover was happy to have the moisture.

Today it is still cold and windy. We are harvesting our Chardonnay in the
vineyard Ried Neusatz.

Approximately 20° on the Klosterneuburg scale – close to 100° Öchsle –
translates to some 200 grammes of sugar per litre of grape must: perfect
ripeness!

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Sauvignon Blanc: pressing & precipitation

The press has been running for an hour now.

The grape must is drawn off into a stainless steel tank, where it will rest
for a day in order for the remaining solids to settle.

Meanwhile, the clear must that we pressed yesterday in the cellar is racked
into a wooden cask, where it will ferment and then spend the entire period
of élevage on the yeast.

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Harvesting our Sauvignon Blanc

We are currently picking our Sauvignon Blanc. The weather is windy and the
sun is shining. The grapes taste spicy and sweet.

In processing the grapes we strive to exclude oxygen as much as possible, in
order to preserve the aromas of tropical fruits and elderflowers.

The clusters spend the night macerating (juice and grape skins); pressing
begins early in the morning.

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