Vintage

The vintage is shaped by the weather pattern between the bud break of the dormant vines and the picking of the grapes – at Gut Hermannsberg the first of these takes place in April, the latter normally in October. However, the weather during the weeks before bud break and the amount of water in the soil at this point also influence the vintage. In spite of this, the most crucial thing for the quality of the wines is the weather during the last six weeks before the harvest. In the age of climate change when winemakers talk about a “cool vintage” what they often mean is that during the last phase of grape ripening conditions were cool (generally a good thing in the age of climate change.