Vintage 2012

“April weather and luck in a card game – can change any minute!!”
–  unknown

The transit from winter to spring in 2012 was very changeable. Once we had snow then we had sun, then again, some snow and frost followed by spring like temperatures. Mid-February the temperature sunk to -15°C and end of March they hit 20°C. Causing the bud burst to be extraordinarily early. All of spring was like an endless month of April – beginning of April was cool and during the end the thermometer jumped up to 30°C. The month of May came at us with some cooler nights resulting in very irregular flowering – on the 18^th of May we had one of the latest frost nights ever recorded. June, July and August where perfect summer months. Warm and balanced. Consequently, we were able to harvest our first Pinot Noir and Sankt Laurent grapes on the 20^th of August – with record breaking sugar levels! Due to the high summer temperatures the sugar levels kept on climbing, so we had to be very careful not to harvest too soon – important is not only the amount of sugar but also the physiological maturity. Nevertheless, the main harvest was ended on the 27^th of September – it was as early as in 2003 – In December we harvested our Scheurebe Trockenbeerenauslese – after 4 unsuccessful years finally a Trockenbeerenauslese!