Difficult weather conditions, persistent rainfalls and fewer sunshine hours demanded scrupulous care and extensive work in the vineyards from Austria's winemakers this year, so that healthy and ripe grapes could be harvested. The wine grape volume will be once again below the long term average, but we can look forward to an Austrian 2014 vintage with fresh, very fruity and pleasantly drinkable wines.Mother Nature's weather performance this year was not exactly favourable to the Austrian winemakers. The optimistic forecast generated by a mild Winter and warm Spring were somewhat marred by low precipitation during the Winter and drought-like conditions until April.
Then came the rain. The wettest May since 1820 was also cooler than the long-term average. Nevertheless, the warmth at the beginning of the year and good weather during flowering provided a fine head start for the vegetation period. However, following a heat wave in early June, the Summer sun was not plentiful and there were high amounts of rainfall – all of which slowed up the earlier robust start to the vegetation period. Hopes for good harvest weather in September were dashed. The frequent rainfall increased the threat of rot and led to significantly more hours of work in the vineyard. It was necessary to check the health of the grapes constantly in order to make a good harvest selection. Accordingly, utmost attention and expertise were required also in the cellar. The result: a very fruity, fresh and easy-drinking vintage awaits us! The only downside is that the 2014 harvest, with an estimated 2.14 million hectolitres as of the end of October, is again well below the 10-year average.