2005

After a long and in the mountainous regions snowy winter, spring showed with chilled nights. Not until the end of May it became quite warm but exactly during bloom we suffered again from cool nights with only 8° C which caused severe coulure. From end of June until August, regular winds from the south brought continuous rainfalls. August and September 2005 were the rainiest since 1980. Due to the relatively high humidity the nutrient uptake and the ripeness of the grapes were promising and the physiological ripeness of the berries was in the long term average. Due to our strict foliage, the health of the grapes was still good. Although some berries bursted, rottenness was quite limited.
In September sun came back with sunny weather, just

interrupted by some more rainfalls which were regionally very different and led to an important stress of rottenness. It was necessary to harvest in some prcels precocioulsy – a strict selection of the berries was essential. In October weather was due to winds from the west stable and we had a beautiful Indian Summer. Those grapes which have been less troubled by the rainfalls and thus were still sane, could still gain sugar and reached very good ripeness. We finished harvest 18 October with our Blaufränkisch in Jois with a gradation of 10 to 20 °KMW.
Altogether a vintage for professional vintners with approachable wines of good to very good quality.