From “fantastic” to “vintage of the century”: great enthusiasm among Swiss winemakers for 2023

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Nicolas Greinacher And Alain Kunz

The first wines of 2023 are ready. What are Swiss winemakers bringing to bottles this year? We asked seven of the best companies. The echo of this is the same everywhere: 2023 was a challenging wine year with often great results.

“It is simply wonderful that the 2023 vintage juices now lie dormant in the cellar. The season in Cenins has been quite difficult. The very long drought period ended suddenly with severe storms and hail at the end of August. These extreme weather events put great pressure on people and vines. It is even more pleasing to see that, thanks to meticulous sorting, fascinatingly deep young wines are now being produced. For us, 2023 will be a wine with an extremely exciting character, where depth and filigree, fruit and spice create a wonderful contrast!”

«I particularly remember the hot period at the end of August because it negatively affected my Pinot Noir vines. Especially in exposed areas, the grapes lost liquid and began to dry. Therefore, a strict selection had to be made in the vineyard. At the beginning of September, many Pinots were still far from reaching phenolic maturity, so I waited to harvest them. In contrast, while some of my colleagues were starting to harvest their red wine grapes, I was focusing solely on sparkling wine grapes at this point. Harvest for my single vineyard Pinots only started on September 22nd at the ‘Auf der Mauer’ location. On October 13, the last grapes of Herznach Chraibel were harvested. Due to strict selection, harvest volumes were 20 to 50 percent below normal vintages and amounted to 15 to 20 hectoliters per hectare. The 2023 Pinot Noirs have impressive structure and substance, making them ideal for long-term storage in the bottle. Alcohol levels range from 13.5 to 14 percent. Chardonnays also do very well and show less severe losses in yield. For me, 2023 was another big challenge where experience is more important than ever. Waiting always carries certain risks, but this strategy has been totally worth it for my wines this year.”

“2023 was a challenging, unusual wine year. We had a lot of rain in the spring, lots of sunshine with very little precipitation throughout the summer, and then we had the warmest September since measurements began. We were able to harvest excellent quality and quantity of grapes from mid-September to mid-October. “We are extremely confident and excited to see the wines in our cellar develop even further.”

«First of all, we are happy that Wümmet turned out well! Overall, 2023 was a very difficult and very busy year for Ticino. It rained a lot, often heavily, sometimes accompanied by hail, which meant humidity was often high; ideal conditions for downy mildew… Depending on the location of the plot, maintaining moisture was a big challenge, especially with Merlot. grapes and grapes are healthy. This didn’t work everywhere, so there was a loss of productivity in some areas. Yields were very good in other regions, and the late varieties matured well towards the end of September, thanks to the good weather. Overall we are very pleased with the quality.”

«2023? An extraordinary and promising vintage. Spring was mild with average rainfall. The downy mildew caused by the climate quickly disappeared. Overall, temperatures were above the long-term average. Due to drought, we had to use drip irrigation. That is, everything was fine until the heavy hail in May, which affected 30-40 percent of the grapes in the Fully region. Since the fruits do not yet form sugar, most of them healed on their own using biodynamic preparations and eventually the yield returned to normal! The harvest took place under optimal conditions, so the quality of the grapes was ultimately excellent and comparable to 2022. The first tastings revealed a wonderful picture: tonic wines with high drinkability. You need to be aware that extreme heat and severe drought demand everything from winegrowers to protect the fruit from the sun. “New approaches will probably be needed at some point.”

«The summer was hot and dry, but by June there were still some problems with downy mildew in organic viticulture. The flowers were so lavish that we had to cut them in July. Thanks to a few storms during the hot summer months, plants were not affected much by drought stress. The harvest took a long time under perfect weather conditions, as grapes ripen very quickly in regions where they are scarce. We harvested Pinot between September 12-18. Since high-yielding grape varieties needed more time, we were able to harvest Chasselas only in the first week of October. Sugar content was high everywhere and the yield of healthy fruits was plentiful. Alcoholic fermentation started smoothly and malolactic fermentation also started quickly. Many wines are already finished. Pinot Noirs have a nice acidity and an alcohol content of 13.5 percent by volume, which is great!

“This was a very special year. We bought sixty liters of water in mid-September, shortly before the harvest. There was a risk of the fruit rotting and splitting. We stayed calm and picked almost nothing for the first ten days. So the juice came out of the grapes again. The result is unrivaled concentrates! Absolutely It was the best vintage. The highest yields in 120 years were 1911, 1929, 1947, when the climate was exactly the same as this year, there was water at the beginning of the harvest and October temperatures were 25 to 35 degrees. Then 1982 and now 2023. A complete vintage of the century. Valais Look forward to what lies dormant in its vaults.”

Source : Blick

Malan

I am Dawid Malan, a news reporter for 24 Instant News. I specialize in celebrity and entertainment news, writing stories that capture the attention of readers from all walks of life. My work has been featured in some of the world’s leading publications and I am passionate about delivering quality content to my readers.