Hanging the wires

The young vines in our Ried Katterstein have grown quite beautifully, and the trellis wires are being installed.

 

They help the vines to grow in the proper direction.

 

Now that the green harvest is finished, we have the time to do this.

 

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Green harvest

2018's vineyard vegetation cycle strides forward, and we are currently occupied with the green harvest, also called 'thinning-out'.

 

This process reduces the number of clusters hanging on each vine, guaranteeing plenty of sunshine and grapes of optimal ripeness.

 

… and it takes about as much time as the actual harvest itself will.

 

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Erecting the trellises

After the rainfall in recent weeks and the past few days that were dry and hot, the subsoils remain moist while the surface is dry.

These are ideal conditions for driving in the poles. Unfortunately not all of the poles reach the necessary depth of 50 cm. 

So tomorrow we have to get out the hydraulic chisel and finish up.

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Defoliation

The rainfalls of the previous week have accelerated this year’s growth.

The rapidly growing vines are now being defoliated on the east side – the side of the morning sun.

In doing this, some two leaves per shoot and the redundant secondary growth are removed from the cluster zone.
This allows the sun to reach the grapes better.

In one regard, this  toughens the grapes against sunburn, while the danger of fungal infection is also reduced.

And we hope that we can continue to avoid any bad weather!

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Tending the second-year vineyard

The weather this year is encouraging the vines to flourish quite wonderfully.

After the first year’s growth of some 1–1.5 metres and then being cut back quite close to the ground during the winter,
the cycle begins once more.

The vines we planted in 2017 have now mostly reached the top wire. 

Next year, the nicer of this year’s two shoots will be pruned to produce the first small yield.

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Trimming the vines

New growth is trimmed, so that the vines don’t break off above the highest wire. This is executed by means of a leaf-cutter with rotating blades.
After this, the foliage canopy is stable.

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Blending the Steinzeiler

We are taking advantage of a couple rainy days to blend our 2017 Steinzeiler.

First, we taste the various lots.

Then the individual components are blended together to create the cuvée, and the casks are washed out.

Next, we burn sulphur in the barrels, and the Steinzeiler goes back into cask for an additional 18 months.

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