The 2022 wine year

This year's harvest went so well, and we are very pleased with the quantity cellared as well as the excellent quality of the grapes. The pressing process went as desired and the young wines are already presenting themselves as accessible and aromatic. We are happy that we will be presenting the first wines of the 2022 vintage in just a few months!

Looking back on the wine year, we remember a dry and rather cool spring with a late budbreak. From May on, it was sunny and warm, with some weeks even almost unbearably hot. Rain was missing – in general, precipitation was almost absent in the first half of the year – we were at 50% of the average value of the last 30 years by the end of June.

To protect the vines from great drought stress, which might be found in a wine’s aroma, we had to water regularly during the summer. We are glad to have invested in drip irrigation systems, because in addition to precise watering, we also save water, up to 30% in contrast to outdated sprinkler systems.

At the beginning of August we took the first sampling of the berries and were a bit shocked ourselves when we decided to harvest the Gamay as early as 20 August. The vine parcel in Fully is now over 40 years old, the vines were planted using the goblet system, low-set single vines that were part of a traditional cultivation and it is one of the last parcels that has no irrigation system.
The situation was somewhat different in Leuk, where, depending on the slope, the berries’ ripening process was interrupted by the drought, so that we could harvest the first Pinots only on 3 September.

All in all, it was the earliest harvest start we have experienced so far. What starts early also ends early, so we harvested our Heida in Visperterminen 6 October, thus concluding the 2022 wine year. In other years, the end of the harvest did not take place until November.

Since the 2021 vintage was very small compared to the current harvest, due to bad weather, many wines are already sold out. The new vintage will be available from the end of March with the first events for the public. The scarce quantities available are also the reason why we are no longer holding any tastings, for the time being. However, available products can still be picked up or purchased from us during the Advent season.

In November, the Gault-Millau Guide 2023 was published and we are pleased that once again they count us among the 150 best wineries in the country! This time we are even more pleased than usual because in 2023 we celebrate 10 years of Vin d'oeuvre!