Austrian 2018 grape harvest starts early with abundant ripeness

Vienna, Austria
What to expect of 2018 vintage Austrian wines?

• A very hot year, with one of the earliest harvests in many decades.
• Higher alcohol content, less acidity
• A few minor hailstorms, almost no fungal diseases
• Anticipated harvest volume: 2.6 million hectolitres (compared with the fifteen-year mean volume of 2.4m hl)
• Niederösterreich/Wien: good volume, very good quality
• Burgenland: good volume, very good quality and the possibility of very fine red wines
• Steiermark: very good volume, very good quality

‘For the most part, Austria’s grapevines were able to withstand the enormous heat and lack of moisture that characterised the 2018 vegetation cycle. So we have a very early and very ripe vintage on our hands, one in which persistently high temperatures have led to consistently higher levels of alcohol and lower levels of acidity. Volume will in any event be just above average: we are looking forward to a harvest in the magnitude of some 2.6 million hectolitres’, declared Viticultural Association president Johannes Schmuckenschlager, in reference to the 2018 vintage, which will now reach its climax with one of the earliest harvests in decades. 

(Excerpt from a press release)