Neudegg, September 26, 2024. Earlier than ever before. Faster than ever before. This year’s harvest lasted just about three weeks – from September 2 to 24. Harvest began with picture-perfect grapes of the PIWI varieties Muscaris, Johanniter and Bronner. Zweigelt for Rosé, Gemischter Satz, the first Grüner Veltliner grapes and our entire Roter Veltliners were brought into the cellar before massive rains flooded the whole of Lower Austria and especially our district of Tulln from September 13 to 17. An incredible 260 mm of rain was measured at our weather station in Neudegg over these five days. This is as much precipitation as we usually measure within six months! So we took a break from harvesting and hoped we would get off lightly. And that’s exactly what happened: as soon as the rain started, we moved out again. Not only did the water supply multiply within five days but temperature also made a considerable leap. In just one week, we went from 30 °C in shorts and shirts to 7 °C in jeans and sweaters under raincoats. How should one keep patient and calm in such a situation!? Our helpers snipped as fast as one can, as the sugar levels have skyrocketed due to the bright sunshine at the beginning of September. The wet rainy days, on the other hand, caused the berries to swell, and in some places the onset of rot became apparent. Speed was now the top priority! For this reason, in addition to our harvest team, consisting of around 7-10 people, we requested the harvesting machine for larger areas of Grüner Veltliner and Zweigelt. The press buzzed, at least three times a day, and the cellar quickly filled up with must. However, it soon became clear that the quantities would be lower than in previous years. This was probably due to the rather dry months of July and August. The usual budding was followed by rapid flowering and an early ripening phase, driven by the prolonged alternation of sun and rain in May and June. Once again, quick action was required: high fungal pressure demanded careful and continuous plant protection.

A promising start in the cellar

Now it’s up to the musts. We will see how the stresses and strains experienced in nature will be reflected in the wines. While the grapes arrived in the cellar relatively warm in the first week and rapid processing of the musts was key, in the second half of the harvest, not only arrived the grapes colder, but the temperature in the cellar also dropped by many degrees. We ensured continuous fermentation by, as always, avoiding sulfur during processing and adding our Pied de Cuve – grapes that we took from our Wadenthal vineyards shortly before the harvest and macerated in small tanks for early fermentation – to the musts. It worked wonderfully! Our first tastings were positive: very clean and very elegant! It will probably be a somewhat fuller-bodied vintage compared to previous years. We expect intense aromas, but thanks to a timely harvest, also a sufficiently elegant backbone. But it’s still too early to speculate! We stay excited. After such a crazy year, it’s best not to make any further predictions. We’d rather pour ourselves another glass of 2021, 2022 or 2023, sit back, rejoice that everything is in the cellar, and trust. Because we are sur: Everything will be fine!