After the first experiments with small quantities of Perle and Dornfelder we had our first serious harvest today. You guys really loved our 2013 Kleine Wanderlust (only few of you have tried its big sister so far – will be available next spring) so we were awaiting this day eagerly.
Have I mentioned before that we’re facing a difficult fall? Probably yes. The grapes are rotting. A lot of it being nobel rot but there is acid rot (did I look up the term correctly? It’s grapes smelling & tasting sour). You don’t want to have the second kind of rot in your wine. So we planned an elaborate harvest for our Regent vineyard. There was one team collecting only the really healthy grapes. Like these.
And a second selection team having a close look at all that was left behind.
Those guys threw away quite a lot but (there were more fishy things besides acid rot …). But we were left with a good portion of noble rot grapes in the end – like we were last year. They don’t look that pretty if you’re not used to it but they taste absolutely ok.
Sweet, concentrated. Following the official doctrine it will make the wine brown-ish and less durable. We didn’t make this experience with out 2013 Kleine Wanderlust. So we’ll do it again like we did it last year: The noble rot portion has immediately started fermenting in our brand new fermentation tank to become the 2014 Kleine Wanderlust. While only the healthiest grapes do ferment in two boxes to become the 2014 Große Wanderlust (available in 2016).
A little detail: We modified the destemmer a little so we got a few more undamaged berries in the mash. Let’s see if there will be a noticeable difference.