Management during the year
JANUARY
Pruning
Prune the vine to one or two canes, depending on its vigor.
The cut wood is later chopped up with machines and worked into the soil, slowly creating a natural humus enrichment of the soil.
FEBRUARY
Binding
The canes that we left standing during pruning are now tied to the stretcher wire of the wire system or to the individual stake.
Filtration + filling
of the first young wines.
MARCH
Soil cultivation
– Loosening of the soil
– Sowing of greening plants (for fertilization and erosion control)
APRIL
Planting
new vineyards / conversion of old vineyards to the modern wire system.
MAY
Untying
– The shoots are woven into the wires
– Break out unwanted shoots (thinning) to strengthen the growth of the vine shoots
JUNE
Tying up + pruning
– Prune the upper part of the foliage wall to keep it in shape.
JULY
Tying up + defoliation
– For better light exposure and ventilation, some of the foliage is removed by hand on the side facing away from the weather (prevents fungal infestation)
AUGUST
Maturity control
– The grapes are inspected in the various vineyards and their sugar content (Oechsle) is checked using a refractometer.
Final cleaning
– Cleaning the wine press, barrels and stainless steel tanks and all surfaces in the cellar before the grape harvest
SEPTEMBER
Grape harvest + cellar work
– In many vineyards, we harvest selectively according to ripeness. This means, for example, that in the first pass we only pick the grapes for a light and tangy Kabinett and in the next pass some time later the grapes for a fruity late harvest
– For our noble sweet wines (Auslese, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese) from our best plots, we sort the grapes in the vineyard according to their different degrees of ripeness. We often even pick out individual berries from the whole bunch.
– Once we have harvested enough berries for Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese wines, they are pressed without stems (destemmed) so that only the finest aromas are released into the wine.
OCTOBER
Grape harvest + cellar work
– Pressing the grapes
– Clarification of the must overnight in special tanks
– Pumping the clarified must into the selected fermentation vats
– Daily cleaning of the wine press, vats, buckets, etc.
NOVEMBER
Cellar work
– The fermentation of the wines is checked and recorded daily
– Work in the cellar
DECEMBER
Daily fermentation checks
and cellar work
– the wines are measured daily
and the results are recorded
– The vines are recovering from the season
and …
Possibly ice wine harvest in December / January
During the grape harvest, we decide whether a vineyard is suitable for a potential ice wine harvest and wrap the vines in plastic to protect them from the weather and wild animals – in order to harvest ice wine, temperatures must fall below -8°C and the grapes must be completely frozen through.