The first Villa Gyetvai wines of the 2024 vintage are well on their way. With this in mind, we thought it would be helpful to review the characteristics of this vintage, to help you better understand and appreciate the wines when you taste them.
Unfortunately, mild and dry weather has become the norm for winter in our region. Long, severe cold spells and heavy snowfall have eluded us again this year. As usual, we started pruning in December and were able to finish at a leisurely pace by February.
In spring, we welcomed the long-awaited rainfall, which was particularly important for the young vines that had been planted on five hectares the previous autumn. The rains continued into June, but July and August were marked by drought, record temperatures and intense heat.
Gábor summed up last autumn's harvest season as follows: "The harvest is over. It was Riesling that we picked last. We started on 28 August and finished on 10 September. It was an extremely intense, busy period, which objectively, from the outside, was very short, but from the inside, with early morning starts and work in the cellars lasting into the night, trust me, it felt really long."
It was a challenge for us and other wineries that the harvest, which ideally lasts a month and a half, had to be completed in just two weeks. This required intensive and strenuous work in both the vineyard and the cellar, as processing the grapes had to start immediately upon their arrival. Thanks to our established practices, however, processing and fermentation proceeded as usual, and most of the wines were ready by the second half of October. They have now mostly been bottled.
Now, there is only one thing left to do: taste and discover what the wines of this vintage have to offer. We can't wait for you to try the first wines of 2024! Reliving the heat of summer and the excitement of the harvest with all those early starts in the morning will be exciting! We hope you enjoy these wines as much as we enjoyed making them!