September brought us a lot of sunny and unusually warm days. This was, of course, beneficial for the ripening grapes, but such an extraordinary heat, uncommon for this time of year, also gave us some worries, as the grapes and different varieties started ripening all at once.
What do winemakers do in such a situation? They must rely on the team of people they have and, if necessary, harvest and process more grapes in a day than originally planned. Every helping hand counts, and if there aren’t enough hands, technology can lend a hand too, just as it did at our winery this autumn. We experimented with using a harvester for grape picking, and we were very satisfied with the results.
The grapes were gradually harvested, “the cellar was working full throttle” processing the grapes at full speed. But what will be the final result of this vintage? Overall, the yield is lower than in an average year, but the grapes appear to have a good amount of sugar content, though in some varieties, the acidity is a bit lower than we would have liked.
Now, at the end of October, the 2023 harvest is complete, even the last sweet berries of Aurelius with noble rot have been picked. Yet, everything is still open. The final quality of the vintage will only become clear later, as fermentation and careful processing shape the character of the wine, which was marked by the spirit of an Indian summer.
But one thing is certain, the 2023 vintage will be the first in our winery’s history to feature a part of our wines labeled as BIO. We have been cultivating organic-quality grapes for several years, but this will be the first time wine produced under the organic standards sees the light of day, because only now have we matured enough to transform all our knowledge and experience into an authentic Slovak organic wine.
