Ecstatic, for it could not have gone any better
Between September 11th and October 4th, we harvested organic grapes of the highest quality under ideal conditions. These will be used to produce various amber, orange, and red wines.
After two challenging years, in which we lost nearly everything due to drought (2022) and hail (2023), this year has been nothing short of perfection: We enjoyed consistently ideal weather, and the vineyard could not have been in better health.
Given the exceptional quality of the grapes, I decided to take full advantage of the favorable situation, pushing the wine cellar close to its maximum capacity.
Grape harvest 2024
We began this year’s harvest on September 11th with the Saperavi variety. Finding helpers is becoming increasingly difficult each year. Unfortunately, no one was available in the early morning, so we had to start harvesting after lunch. While not ideal, the cool weather meant it wasn’t too problematic. We brought grapes of top-notch quality, with a sugar content of 23.3 °Brix (97.8 °Oechsle), into the cellar, where we pressed them into two qvevris and two stainless steel tanks.
Five days later, we continued with the Kisi and Khikhvi varieties. Once again, we were highly impressed by the quality of the grapes. We began harvesting at sunrise and brought the grapes into the cellar by 1:00 PM, filling two qvevris with Khikhvi and five qvevris along with one stainless steel tank with Kisi. The sugar content was 22.1 °Brix (92.5 °Oechsle) for Khikhvi and 21.7 °Brix (90.6 °Oechsle) for Kisi.
The Rkatsiteli variety took a bit longer to ripen this year: Nearly two weeks after the previous harvest, we picked this latecomer with a sugar content of 22.0 °Brix (91.9 °Oechsle). Its quality even surpassed that of the earlier varieties we had harvested.
