Vintage 2021

Extraordinary Year for White Wines

A late harvest and lovely, stable weather at the crush characterized Alto Adige’s 2021 vintage. Thus, the grapes could be left to ripen ideally, and thanks to the high temperature differentials between day and night, a great deal of aroma could form. The result is an extraordinary 2021 white wine vintage and without exception a good to very good vintage for the reds.

In addition to all of the hard work in the vineyard and in the winery, the cornerstone for impressive wines is laid by the weather, and by and large it did its best for Alto Adige’s winegrowers in 2021. And although the vines sprouted at a comparable point in time as in prior years, cool temperatures in the spring in any case slowed down that sprouting.

Late Maturation, Hardly Any Frost, and Challenging Precipitation

The cool temperatures and the resulting delay in vegetation of around ten to fourteen days turned out to be a blessing for the winegrowers. Thus, there were only individual cases of frost damage. It was no longer possible to make up for the delay which the vines had experienced in the spring, even though June was the third warmest this year in the Advisory Board’s weather records. What was challenging for the winegrowers, on the other hand, was the situation with precipitation in the summer. June, for instance, was very dry, and both some of the younger plantings and even the bearing ones had to be irrigated. The missing water then showed up in July in the form of severe storms. On top of that, in the height of the summer there were several hailstorms, the most severe of which occurred July 13 when a hail front passed through the Bassa. In the Cortaccia area, the hail caused damage of up to eighty percent.

Lovely Weather in the Autumn Provides for Ideal Grape Quality

The winegrowers were accommodated with a continuous phase of lovely weather in the late summer and autumn which created the ideal conditions for maturation, above all else for the white and late-maturing red varieties. In terms of quantities, on the other hand, the 2021 harvest was comparable to that of the previous year.

Above Average Whites, Outstanding Schiava

Thanks to the very healthy harvest, good sugar levels, and fine acidities, 2021 promises to be an above average vintage for Alto Adige’s white wines. “The wines from the Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc varieties present themselves without exception as very lovely. With the red wine varieties, it is drawn a differentiated picture. For instance, significantly lower yields, smaller berries, and loose, very healthy bunches with good sugar levels and ideal coloration provide for Schiava wines that are developing in an outstanding direction. The Pinot Noir wines from the Bassa Atesina score a “very good”, the Merlot and Cabernet get a “good to very good”, while the Lagrein is developing as “average to good”.

Vintage 2021 IN GENERAL: later harvest, beautiful autumn (except 2 days full of rain), good temperature differences between day and night, ripeness was good

© Consorzio Alto Adige Wines