Our retrospective on 2024

2024 was an extremely difficult year for agriculture. This applies to all crops.
For us in Leuk, spring budding came early due to an above-average warm winter. A drop in temperature in mid-April resulted in six frost nights, which became a Herculean task to protect the young shoots from the cold. It was impressive to see how the leaves of the more resistant grape varieties hung a little lower each morning, appearing almost tired, giving the impression that they would not survive the next night of frost. The damage varied depending on the variety, location, slope and soil type. The numerous rainy days in May and June meant that fungal diseases such as downy mildew spread rapidly, and precise and frequent plant protection was necessary to protect the vines from further crop losses.

We don't know any winegrowers who are happy to throw on a protective suit to apply plant protection products with a backpack sprayer or caterpillar in rough terrain - and yet it is unavoidable in a monoculture.
The rain and cool temperatures have trickled the flower clusters, resulting in loose berried as well as smaller grapes. The ripening period lasted longer due to the moderate temperatures and summer only made a brief guest appearance in mid-August.
The harvest started a month later and was accompanied by numerous rain showers. Normally we don't harvest during the rain so that the berries don't collect extra water, but the weather apps we used - there were no less than three different ones - couldn't make a clear prediction and so we were repeatedly surprised by showers.

Despite the difficult circumstances that the vintage brought with it, we were able to harvest beautiful, healthy and ripe grapes, even though short reaction times and a lot of flexibility were required.
Difficult vintages often prove to be exciting in wine, as they come along with a lot of freshness and subtlety, and we are grateful not to have suffered any loss of quality and continue to press our own personal style of wine with the same high standards as in the past twelve years.

We would like to take this opportunity to say a huge and heartfelt thank you to everyone who worked for us last year! A lot of spontaneity and just as much flexibility was required - whether during the open cellar doors or the grape harvest - without the support of friends and family members, our business would not run so smoothly!