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The 2005 Vintage: Small Quantity, Wide Breadth

This difficult vintage began with a slow, irregular blossoming in Spring, when cold periods caused early decimation of upstart grapes. Summer, refusing to live up to its name, provided little reprieve. Nevertheless, ripening was satisfactory.

vintage 2005, Copyright AWMB
vintage 2005, © Austrian Wine / committee Kamptal

But rains that began in early August accompanied a wet, cool September as well, leaving many grapes exposed to increased rot afterwards. Therefore, growers had to work extra carefully in the vineyards – with vine thinning and scrupulous leaf work, for example – in order to achieve the desired ripeness levels. Nature provided more assistance when Indian Summer arrived on October 3rd and stayed for the entire month. However, while this helped increase the grape sugar content in general, for some grape varieties, it was too late.

White wines with beautiful balance

Because the vines in principle do not need excessive sun, the chances for balanced wines looked quite good during the main harvest period. Despite the generous amounts of rainfall, ripeness levels were solid indeed, thanks to rigorous work in the vineyards. The balance of alcohol, extract content and acidity was satisfactory as well. The white wines are highly aromatic, and display a mellow fruit expression as well as clear varietal typicity. Thanks to a beautiful October, varietals such as Grüner Veltliner and Riesling could once again be revealed as full-bodied premium wines. In some cases, however, acidity was lower than usual – certainly lower than levels reached in the previous vintage. The overall positive results could be realized only through highly accurate selection in the vineyards as well as, in some cases, through early harvesting. Still, for some varieties, like Weißburgunder, Grauburgunder and Chardonnay, rot infection could not be avoided despite even the intensive leaf work. Conditions for sweet wines were very good in late Fall - but it is still too early for detailed descriptions.

Slender red wines

The special requirements for the white grape harvest were applied even more to the red one: rigid selection and higher numbers of harvesters were needed in order to retrieve healthy grapes at just the right moment. Especially for Zweigelt, but also for early-ripening varieties such as Pinot Noir and St. Laurent, quantity reduction was the only way to go. Late-ripening varieties like Blaufränkisch and Cabernet had an easier time, although the ripening cycle was a bit too short for achieving the high ripeness levels of the previous years. All in all, charming and balanced red wines with a slim structure, delicate fruit and medium tannins are expected, with many suitable for young drinking. Some top reds from optimal sites (which could be harvested later because of little threat of rot) are very promising. The quantity from the 2005 vintage will be substantially below the long-time average of 2.5 million hectoliters. For the time being, around 2 million hl are estimated.

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