Vintage Report 2011 ...

Solid quality at a high volume,

With a warm, early spring, the year began some three or four weeks ahead of the norm. This came to the joy of a lot of growers including Von Schleinitz since we had made much less wine in the small 2010 vintage (about 60% less for Von Schleinitz and about 25% less than usual for the whole of Germany), because it gave hope that a larger yield might have the chance to ripen during the course of the year.

In early May, much of the country was devastated by early frost. The vineyards most affected were those on deeper ground as the freezing air rolled down the steeper hills of the better vineyards and settled in frost-pockets (many of which had been known even by the Romans to be poor land for the cultivation of vineyards for this reason.) There was damage in almost all of the 13 wine regions yet the vineyard sites of Von Schleinitz due to all being steep terraces were not affected and we enjoyed seeing a near perfect fruit-set in 2011.

In July, rain finally started to come and really accelerated the growth of the vines.

In late August, there was a much more publicized hail-storm that devastated parts of Baden, the Pfalz, Rheinhessen, and most notably the Mosel, where major damage was incurred in some of the most famous vineyards of the Mittelmosel. Again, von Schleinitz was not affected by these devastating storms.

The advanced ripeness of the grapes from spring through summer lead to a very early start of the harvest.

The Pinot Noir grapes were harvested around September 20th and were healthy and ripe. After two very small harvest of Pinot Noir in 2009 and 2010 we can look forward to a wonderful 2011 release of red, rose and Blanc de Noir.

This was the first year that we ever harvested Riesling grapes in September, but in 2011 we already harvested half the Riesling crop by the end of September. Especially in the best vineyards the noble rot started and forced an earlier harvest.

The ripeness of the grapes was reflected in high must weight and a ripe fruit acidity even with the larger amounts of grapes harvested.

Overall we are looking to an exciting vintage of excellent wines from both of our favorite grapes: Pinot Noir and Riesling and finally they will be in good supply as well.

We hope to release the Pinot Noir Rose and Blanc de Noir early spring since we were already sold out of the 2010 vintage before the new harvest.