News 2017

Merry Christmas!

The end of the year is drawing closer. There are still a few days until Christmas and like so many people we are looking forward to a bit of downtime. The 2017 vintage has been taken care of as it is quietly ageing in our cellar. Most of the deliveries have been carried out as well but it is still possible to order wine for Christmas. You may also order wines between the holidays if you’re running out. We’ll do our best to provide them as quickly a delivery services work in this season.

It is getting cold

It is December and winter broke out like on a schedule. Considering the long and warm autumn where some of the trees have not even shed all their leaves yet, this was quite sudden. Last night it reached temperatures of -7° C, cold enough for producing Icewine. We did not plan to harvest Icewine this year but for some other winemaking families of Gols this day of work started early during night hours already. Early December is just perfect timing because there is enough time for processing and fermentation until Christmas.

Last day of harvest

The harvest is over. The day before yesterday we picked ripe, sweet Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, the last of the current vintage. The year was much more exciting than we would have wished for, but in the end very good.

Harvest

Atumn has finally replaced this year’s long lasting summer and harvest time has arrived. By now we picked most of our grapes, only a few late varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon remain out in the vineyards for a few more days of sun and ripening. The ones we harvested already are currently fermenting lievely in our wine cellar, quickly developing into young wines. Below are a few pictures from this vintage’s St. Laurent harvest. It is an early grape and has thus been picked more than two weeks ago already. (Pictures (c) Simon Wieser)

Summer goes on.

We’re currently enjoying a brief drop in temperatures but the next heat wave with 35° C is already predicted for later this week. The summer has been hot to the extreme and we can feel that just as well as our vines.

Vines blossoming

A cold spring

Following last year’s catastrophic late frost event, the current vintage has also not been overly kind to our grapes yet. We enjoyed a nice cold winter, but March started out much too warm, leading to an extremely early start into the growing season. More than three weeks before the long standing average, the vines started to shoot around April 5th. Unfortunately late frost events may always happen into the first half of May, representing a great danger for young vines and grapes.

Tasting time

Years do start calmly in our winery. Activities are not too urgent and we can attend to the winter pruning without much hurry. But that work is now almost done and other things start to become more important. Still there is time before the year really gets going when the vines bud in spring. And this is, we think, the best time for wine tastings!