Record 2018 vintage for Austrian wine

Growers are reportedly pleased with the fine quality of the grapes, which could for the most part be harvested this year without much concern over potential diseases.

Winegrowers were granted a nationwide increase of 20 per cent in the maximum yield per hectare to partially offset their crop losses from the 2017 vintage. More modest harvests

More modest harvests were recorded in certain areas because of extreme drought like in Niederösterreich or excessive precipitation like in Südsteiermark.

2018: the weather

After a very warm January, cold conditions in February and March led to a later-than-usual budding of the vines, so that in contrast to the previous two years, no damage was suffered from late frosts.

The second-warmest springtime since 1767 then enabled the vegetation cycle to catch up with the calendar. One of the earliest blossomings ever recorded was registered by the end of May in most winegrowing regions; this advance in vegetation persisted, even during the hot summer.

While the warm June still brought moderate rainfall, a hot July was characterised by torrid intervals and severe drought – the Weinviertel in particular suffered from this. Irrigation – where possible – and other viticultural techniques were urgently brought into play to protect young and shallow-rooted vineyards from extremes of stress. The month of August found the harvest already underway; an influx of cold air at the end of the month finally made for cooler grape material, although thunderstorms and heavy rain provided unpleasant side effects and sometimes interrupted the picking.

A mild, sunny and mostly dry September brought about the conclusion of the harvest, which was finalised almost everywhere at the beginning of October. Thus, winegrowers could not spend the frequently warmer-than-average October days out of doors, but rather found themselves in the cellars tending to the vinification of this vintage.

Niederösterreich (Lower Austria)

A quantitative increase of about fifteen per cent made wine growers happy, although this additional volume was partly due to the hard work due to the drought and heat. Effective foliage canopy management was necessary, so that the days of tropical temperatures did not cause too much damage. Drought in the northern and western Weinviertel also meant additional work in terms of irrigation, while measures to decrease stress on the vines had to be implemented in recently planted parcels. The rains in late August and early September led to brief interruptions in the harvest, although low temperatures and good health enabled the clusters to make it through the bad weather relatively well.

Thanks to skilful vinification, the wines bear little sign of the occasional drought stress suffered by the vines, and the harvest was mostly finalised at the beginning of October. However, some grapes were still hanging on the vine until the end of the month, in order to achieve optimum aromatic maturity by taking advantage of the temperature swings between day and night.

This year’s wines are characterised by a pleasant ease on the palate and beautiful varietal typicity. Their full-bodied character is supported by appropriate alcohol content and accompanied by moderate acidity.

Burgenland

Growers in this region were very satisfied with the above-average harvest volume of about plus 10 per cent, and also because of the excellent quality of the grapes. Although the bad weather conditions of the previous two years were not repeated for the most part, in some cases great aridity led to some worry on growers faces and required extra work in the vineyards and cellars.

The exceptionally early harvest meant that the first Qualitätswein had already been submitted to the Federal Tasting Authority for approval on 2 August. The early start to the harvest had the advantage in northern Burgenland that the September rainfall only affected a small proportion of the grapes. At the end of the month, growers were mostly done with the harvest, even if there were still some grapes in the vineyards, especially around Lake Neusiedl – this year they are expecting Eiswein and some Strohwein, too.

In Mittelburgenland, the small-berried and loose Blaufränkisch clusters were perfectly mature and healthy thanks to good vineyard work. If the previous vintage was described as a ‘picturebook vintage’, the winemakers are expecting the 2018 vintage to be similar.

It is therefore being considered a fabulous vintage with fruit-forward, varietally typical wines featuring concentrated, elegant body. Those characteristics that make the white wines enjoyable already hold true as well for the young reds: ripened and balanced acidity supports the fruit, while the moderate alcohol content means pleasant drinking.

Steiermark (Styria)

The weather gods did no favours for the Styrians this year. Rainfall around the time of blossoming made work in the vineyards and plant protection impossible on occasion. This was a very hard nut to crack especially for growers working organically, and unfortunately not always met with success. Thus, in some cases substantial crop shortfalls resulted. Likewise, the rain in early September combined with the high daytime temperatures led to significant instances of rot, which made stringent selection necessary in the vineyard. Sometimes the harvest volume per day was only 100 kilograms per picker.