Serious spring arrived mid May. Finally. After a super warm start in March which led to an early bud break we’ve been scared of frost for a way too long time. In the end it was three nights of burning fires in three vineyards and luckily there are only two vineyards which will likely have a significantly lower yield (Regent and one Müller-Thurgau).… Read more →
The last repairs – we’re ready for spring
With the majority of our wireframes being 30+ years old there is always a lot to repair, mostly broken piles and wires. So after pruning when all the old wood has been removed we tour through the vineyards, count the missing piles and strain the intact wires. So far a rather relaxed piece of work. The first muscle hangover comes… Read more →
Guano harvest
On the warmest day of the year so far it was time for the guano harvest. Christian (all pics by him – thanks!), Nick and I headed to the small church of the tiny village of Nassau where we had left behind some of the bat-shit last year due to not having had enough bags with us. It’s a narrow way… Read more →
Pruning & travelling
Winter is pruning time. For a couple of weeks it’s been horrible outside. Cold, wet, windy. I have to prune quite a few hectares so I really have to use every dry(-ish) day making my cuts. But two pants and several shirts made it work even below -10°C. There were days though which didn’t allow for any work, you just couldn’t see… Read more →
Bats, sheep & a lot more wine: the 2016 roundup
It’s winter. Cold, calm with our fourth vintage aging in the cellar. It’s not even been four years we’ve been doing all this. And so much happened! The first years were about getting started & quantities were small. This all changed with the 2015 vintage. We produced ten times more wine than it was 2013/2014 and I had a lot of sleepless nights.… Read more →
The 2016 oxidation experiment
Once a year I pull samples of all my whites, fill a glass with each and let the wine oxidize while taking a picture from time to time, sniffing and sipping. This year Basil (Wines Under the Bonnet / Toasted) was around visiting and helped me (thanks mate!). The glasses almost didn’t fit in the photo box, I have to find a better… Read more →
We’ll be traveling the next weeks: Berlin, London, Vienna, Winterthur
Last year it felt a bit embarrassing visiting some of the fairs as we basically didn’t have any wine to sell. It’s not a lot we have left this year either but it’s a least some! We’ll sprinkle in barrel samples here and there though to give you an idea what’s coming up. We got the feedback that you did… Read more →
Harvest report 2016 – a challenge of temperatures & acid levels
Pretty much exactly four weeks after we kicked off harvest we’ve finished the phase of picking grapes. While a couple of musts are still fermenting the majority of the wines has arrived in the barrels and finished fermentation. Only one batch with a bit of VA, the rest is excitingly clean. The key challenge of this year’s harvest were the acid… Read more →
The joy of working with animals
It’s a wonderful thing to work with animals in agriculture. For viniculture one of the most interesting species are sheep. They can be used to feed down the greening in the vineyard or to get the bottom leaves of the vines removed. We have a few vineyards with tricky embankments where I have to spend a lot of time with… Read more →
August vineyard update: burn baby burn
After three weeks off the harvest preparations are under way now. And we have great support this year. Besides Antoine who’s been working with us since April we now have Stephanie and Nick joining the crew – welcome guys! The first thing to do obviously was an extensive visit of all vineyards. Can you guess which variety I’m explaining on this pic? The… Read more →