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Vintage Report 2010

21. June 2010

THE GROWING SEASON
This was our second year in conversion towards full BioGro accreditation. We had a relatively cold spring with a slower growing season. The cooler weather conditions resulted in a longer than normal flowering period, with no negative side effects. In fact it provided us with a naturally balanced fruit-set. Except for the Syrah there was little crop thinning required, just the usual finetuning at veraison. From a vineyard management point of view we were blessed with an exceptionally kind 2009/2010 season. The growth was moderate and the disease pressure minimal. It was a year where a basic but disciplined organic spray programme and our usual high standards of canopy management produced clean, healthy grapes. The weather conditions during vintage were simply excellent. It was dry and sunny day after day, making it the most stress-free vintage we can remember.

THE WINES
Clean, healthy, ripe grapes are destined to produce very fine wines, precisely reflecting and expressing the quality of the vintage and the terroir. At present both red and white wines display great purity and elegance. They are vibrant, well structured, have good concentration and weight without any sign of becoming big or too rich. Furthermore they show beautiful transparency, highlighting the unique character of each vineyard site, particularly of our single vineyard wines. This is also the first year where all of our Riesling grapes were sourced from our own vineyard. As always the essence of our Spätlese style is finesse and that elusive balance between sweetness and acidity. It would be difficult to single out any specific variety as being the most successful of this vintage. We expect the wines to age well due to their inherent overall quality and balance and we look forward to the pleasures this vintage will provide over the next 5 to 10 years and beyond.

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