Vintage 2022

‘Nothing gives you more pleasure than a result you didn’t expect.’

– Unknown

This warm, dry vintage is surprisingly fruity and lively. The white wines are accessible and easy to drink. The red wines have harmonious substance and firm tannins.

Like the vintages before it, vintage 2022 began very dry and windy. It was cool and dry well into the spring, and May was a rollercoaster of temperatures close to the frost line, straining our nerves. In June, we finally got the long-awaited rain, which resulted in very irregular flowering and some trickling. However, the sufficient downpour did nature a lot of good and the water reservoirs were topped up to the bare minimum. The vegetation exploded and the growth of the vines progressed rapidly. The summer months were hot and dry, a picture-book Burgenland summer with very high temperatures throughout. The vines reacted to the extreme heat with a ‘standby mode’ and temporarily stopped growing to simply survive. As a result, the acidity levels remained surprisingly good and the sugar levels were also within reasonable limits. We will sadly remember the drying-up of Lake Zicksee and the water level of Lake Neusiedl also reached new negative records.

The 2022 main grape harvest started at the beginning of September with Sankt Laurent and Muscat followed by Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc with wonderfully fresh acidity levels and optimum ripeness. In mid-September it cools down considerably and we have increasingly cooler nights, perfect for the development of the fruit in our wines. Zweigelt, Blaufränkisch, Merlot and Cabernet follow and, due to the ‘crazy’ vegetation of the vintage, Grüner Veltliner and Welschriesling are only brought in in the final phase with marvelous gradations. Our efforts in the vintage were crowned with a rich and delicate Beerenauslese 2022 from Scheurebe!

The young wines surprise with their natural balance and crisp freshness, showing pithy fruit and medium alcohol levels. The vines seem to be slowly but surely adapting to the extreme weather events. The red wines are surprisingly brightly fruity with fullness on the palate, a theoretical blend of 2020 and 2018 with a touch more freshness.