The view from the Gereg vineyard, which many regard as the greatest site in Mátra. With some experience I can say it’s indeed a top vineyard with its own character – unusually warm and windy.
Harvesting and making wine fully occupied me in the last 6 weeks, so much so that I basically went home only to sleep. But most work is done now and I’m trying to return to my normal life, thinking about things I was used to do before, like posting on my blog. Let me just start with a recap of my harvest…
Cabernet franc after leaves removal (done by me). These vines have a load of about 3 kgs.Cabernet franc vines in the same row as above, but it’s a rockier part of the vineyard, the yield is only 1 kg here.Kékfrankos a.k.a. blaufrankisch at harvest.A bunch of healthy and perfectly ripe kékfrankos.Kékfrankos grapes landing in the open top, 1 ton fermenter after destalking and crushing.Kékfrankos stems. They are bright green even for these very ripe grapes, but the color depends on site and cultivation method, loose bunches and “no treatment” giving less green stems.I helped my friends András Kovács and Kinga Tóth to harvest in their Meggyes vineyard.It’s the ancient, almost extinct Hungarian variety called “laska” in Andras and Kinga’s vineyard. It’s a new planting, they are doing pioneer work in the region (like Itt és Most Pince). Look at the stems, these are not green at all!Gyöngyöspata, where we make our wines is not a beautiful town in general, but the better parts look like this.Uncommonly loose and little bunch of kékfrankos. This seems to be a feature of the Meggyes vineyard, and as the wine now have finished fermenting, I can also say that these grapes are a lot more tannic than kékfrankos from other sites.Kékfrankos in the middle of fermentation. This is how it looks like right after punching down.My colleague’s pet nats, we just recently bottled it. A few weeks and it finishes fermentation in the bottle.
