Harvest Update: 2026 the Year of Sémillon
With the 2026 harvest in the rearview I finally have time to update you on the latest news from the vineyard and cellar.
I guess the big news is SÉMILLON baby! But first a word or two about the 2026 harvest. The grapes were very healthy, and ripe and some sunburn. Yes, sunburned grapes are exactly what comes to mind when you read the words, slightly tannedgrape skins. A direct result of the historically low rainfall in the region and cloudless days. According to GeoSphere Austria between 23 February and 9 August, only 210.9 millimetres of rainfall fell, compared with the usual 405 millimetres, resulting in the driest period in Austria in 176 years of recorded history. The grapes were smaller than usual, which obviously affects the volume of juice we can press out of them.
Now back to the sémillon. What little I had was delicious, but not enough to do much with, until I discovered another winery about 20 minutes away with two rows of sémillon planted back in 2008. To my luck and surprise the winemaker was willing to sell me one row as long as I harvested it, which with the help of some friends, we did in three hours.
The result: 300 kg of grapes pressed to 220 liters. Last week the wine was analyzed at 11,4% alcohol with about 25 grams of sugar remaining. Approximately 17 grams of sugar equal 1% of alcohol, so it should finish around 12,5% - 13%. The wine is currently converting sharp, green-apple malic acid into softer, creamy lactic acid also known as malolactic conversion. Once this finishes the wine will stay in a used French oak barrique until bottling in one year. It’s my first single varietal wine and my first barrique-fermented and aged wine.
My other wine for 2026 will be my second orange wine following 2025 Orange Crush, which has had a pretty good reaction so far including this nice review. I have about 75 bottles left if you want to give it a try — order by clicking your geo (EU/USA or UK).
The currently untitled 2026 orange wine is about 110 liters and it’s a combination of Müller Thurgau, Chenin Blanc and Roussanne. The grapes were crushed by feet and fermented in an open vat steel tank after being on the skins. Special thanks to my 14 year-old apprentice Sam who did the crushing.
After three weeks of skin contact the grapes were pressed-off in an 80 liter pneumatic press with the help of my parents and brother. The 2026 orange wine is now resting in a closed steel tank and in a few weeks it will be moved to two amphora for the rest of the year.
If 2026 is the year of sémillon, 2027 will be the year of Chenin Blanc. Just check out the video below. The vineyard grafted from Grüner Veltliner with Weingut Feldtheorieto Chenin Blanc did spectacularly well and we should have a proper harvest next year. Hopefully this means I will have my first 100% Austrian Chenin!
