Category Archives: Vintage

The Gunderloch cellars at Nackenheim are starting to get much more familiar, but also looking a little different after a rigorous cleaning before new tanks go in which arrived in the afternoon. With some old tanks removed there is a little more wiggle room down there, so existing tanks can also go in there and the rest of the cellars can then be cleaned by yours truly. The secret project Johannes is working on continues; a box we made yesterday has started to have a combination of Rothenberg soil and sand put into it, surrounding a special fermentation vessel. Momentum is building.

Three new babies got delivered. Yet to be named.

Admiring my handiwork

A clean winery is a happy winery

My weapon of choice

Preparations for the real meat of vintage continued today, as old tanks were very delicately removed from the 400 year old cellars so new ones can go in tomorrow. Johannes and I also took some soil from the Rothenberg vineyard to put into a box we built for a special project. To end the day I started to clean the cellars at Nackenheim thoroughly which I’ll continue tomorrow.

Pretty versatile in the vineyards

The winery in Nierstein where most of the processing takes place

The Intrepid Wino digging for treasure

Precious booty

Now how did that giant tank get out of that small door?

A magic box

Today Johannes Joachim and I went out into a number of parcels tasting fruit and looking at the health of the grapes. Samples of some parcels were taken for analysis back at the winery which yielded some interesting data. The afternoon I helped in the packaging line again for an order soon to depart. Here are a few photos.

Joachim and Johannes discussing

I’ve got a lovely bunch of riesling grapes

Joachim takes some samples of riesling in Rothenberg

Lovely mild day in the Rheinhessen

Taking notes on the tastings of fruit

The Pettental vineyard

My second favourite river in the world

Grauburgunder, also known as pinot gris, or pinot grigio

Something called portugese; no-one knows what it is exactly

A tiny little bunch of pinot meunier called schwarz (black) rielsing here

Measuring the oechsle

Day One and we were harvesting some low sugar high acid fruit for some light alcohol wines for a special customer. The fruit was coming from the flatter parts of Nackenheim closer to the Rhein River, where the yields are higher thanks to more alluvial soils and easier access to water. Apart from a little bit of rot in the tighter bunches, the fruit is looking excellent. Later in the day we were doing more leaf thinning in the Rothenberg vineyard and doing some preliminary fruit selection by removing any berries with traces of rot. Here are some photos.

One of the parcels being harvested. Good fruit and plenty of it, with only minor rot and dried berries.

A home away from home, for taking breaks and eating a packed lunch.

Found this amongst the grapes. Vacated thankfully.

Grapes in buckets. Need I say more?

On the left, leaves thinned. On the right, not.

My first week working at Weingut Gunderloch in the Rheinhessen was pretty quiet as the winery finished a few loose ends before the vintage really starts, and also makes necessary preparations. I had an induction of sorts and also had the chance to settle into my digs for my time here. Some bottlings here and a day doing some leaf thinning say out the week for me. Here are some photos from the first week.

Fritz Hasselbach showing me the condition of the Rothenberg vineyard

Rielsing bunches in the Rothenberg vineyard

Healthy riesling berries

2010 Rothenberg Trockenbeerenauslese needed to be decanted to be re-stabilised and re-bottled

Fruit sample ready for analysis in the laboratory

Freshly squished grapes, the juice about to be analysed

In the higher parts of the Rothenberg vineyard I was thinning leaves on the northern side to expose the grapes to the morning sun so that they wouldn’t suffer from heat exhaustion, and also open up the canopy to reduce humidity and potential rotting of the fruit

Considering that rot means red, you can see why this vineyard is called Rothenberg (berg meaning hill/mountain)