The vintage that was in a hurry.
2017 will make history as record harvest: The first grapes were delivered to the winery unusually early on August 28th, 2017. By the end of July, it was all about an early and short harvest, but since then the weather events had come thick and fast. Terminating the picking season already at the very beginning of October was the earliest ever end date even the older generation farmers remember. Due to a slightly wet September there has not been much time for a breather and we tried to work as fast as we could as soon as the sun came out. On the busiest days, almost the whole village of Kaltern was on duty to harvest the perfectly ripe grapes for our white and red wines.
The weather in the 2017 wine-growing year kept us on our toes: After an unusually dry winter and early appearance of the new shoots, a period of frost gave us some sleepless nights at the end of April, although – all in all – we got off lightly. At the beginning of May the first grape blossoms started to open, and blue Pinot Nero berries were to be seen at the beginning of July. Following a wet July accompanied by thunderstorms, the vines made fast progress towards the final ripening stage. Although Alto Adige did not have the drought problems experienced in the rest of Italy, some heavy summer hailstorms brushed our vineyards, especially in the area of Lake Kaltern. Nevertheless, with some extra hard work done by hand, the grapes that were ripening well were able to move on to final maturity.
In summary, it can be said that the 2017 vintage is comparable with the last few years but, with the grape harvest down by 23%, production volumes are correspondingly lower. Our winemaker is now looking forward to a fresh vintage, with an excellent standard of quality in the Sauvignon, Pinot Blanc and Schiava wines especially. The whites offer a combination of intensive fruit aromas and impressive structure, while the Kalterersees/Schiavas are sure to please with a strong acid backbone and multifaceted bouquets.