2011.03.22

2011 was ushered in by cold but relatively dry months in January and February. After two cold winter months, vineyard thaw finally occured on March 15th. During this month, our field team successfully completed vine pruning across the vineyards. Over the course of the month, we renewed two hectares within our Henye and Lapis estate vineyards. All standard vineyard maintenance has proceeded except for post replacement work, which we expect to complete in April. The planned date for the replanting of our Danczka vineyard has now been rescheduled for 2012 due to the unavailability of top quality vinestock.

Meanwhile the biodynamic treatment schedule for Királyudvar's vineyards in 2011 has been set. An expansion of our special preparation treatments will be extended to the Lapis mid-slopes to cover an additional ten hectares. We also plan to conduct experiments with different canopy management practices in order to observe how different canopy management protocols behave under current global warming conditions.

2011.04.26

The weather during the final week of March and first two weeks of April brought 30mm of rainfall to the vineyards. Sunshine with temperatures around 15°C immediately followed signaling that Spring was fully in the air. In the third week of April, bright sunny days with temperatures reaching 20°C resulted in bud break in Henye on April 19th and in Percze on April 20th.

During this month, vineyard work consisted of routine hand work across the vineyards and extensive post replacement in Lapis, Henye and Percze. Biodynamic treatments in Henye, Percze and Lapis began on April 6th. Maria Thun preparation application in these fields was completed on April 22nd. We anticipate our normal spraying treatment to begin in early May.

2011.05.31

April showers have led to May flowers! The Lapis vineyard looks particularly lovely at this time, with all the vines developing uniformly, as if precisely sculpted by a meticulous gardener. Over the past four weeks, daytime temperatures have gradually increased from 15°C to 30°C, while nights have remained relatively cool around 12°C to 14°C below daytime highs. Vegetation growth is full and accelerated. On May 28th, flowering was observed across the Királyudvar vineyards. If current weather and development trends continue, we will be looking at an early September start date for the 2011 harvest.

The viticulture team finished early season maintenance work of post replacement, rewiring and cleaning of the vine trunks. By the end of the May, the team transitioned to focus on meticulous shoot selection. At this time, the vines are healthy showing no signs of disease or any other mildew problems. Three biodynamic sprayings were conducted this month with several additional treatments from Királyudvar's special biodynamic preparations.

2011.06.30

The weather in June has been surprisingly kind, managing to create fewer anxious moments for our viticulture team than in previous seasons. The vineyards are healthy with no serious problems as the typical seasonal hailstorms have thus far been absent. With persistently threatening thunderstorms, rainfall ended up on the slightly higher end of the spectrum, totaling 60 mm for the month. The remainder of the time, the weather remained hot and windy, helping to dry the vineyards while accelerating bunch development and canopy growth. Flowering occured relatively quickly, running about one week long and finishing by June 6th. Grape shatter is minimal and bunch set formation for our furmint and sárgamuskotály varietals look fantastic.

Rapid vegetation growth this season has required the vineyard team to step up its workrate. A 4th biodynamic spraying across the vineyards was completed during the month. Meanwhile, shoot selection work across all vineyards has finished and moving forward, the team will now shifted its focus to canopy management.

2011.07.31

July was hot and extremely wet. Rainfall early in the month helped development on the vines, filling up the bunches and plumping up the berries. Day temperatures ranged from 25°C to 32°C, typical for this time of year. Rainfall levels reached nearly 120 mm by the end of the month. Combined with high humidity levels, outbreaks of oidium in isolated areas required meticulous attention. In order to keep the oidium in check, our viticulture team performed three biodynamic sprayings during the month.

Bunch development of our Furmint and Sárgamuskotály (Yellow Muscat) varietals is typical and satisfactory. Long and full Hárslevelű bunches which lagged behind in development earlier in the growing season have now caught up. Acidity in the bunches is finely textured, and acid levels are developing normally. An interesting observation is the distinct bunch differences between selection massale and cloned vines this season - the berries from selection massale are smaller and development is more even in those bunches.

Canopy management work was completed according to schedule in July. Vineyard work has now shifted to managing vegetation growth underneath and between rows. At this time, we continue to anticipate an earlier harvest starting in September. The 2011 vintage would benefit greatly from dry and windy days with moderate temperatures for the next several weeks.

2011.08.31

A rainy and humid start to August resulted in over 30 mm of falling rain in the first week of the month. Magically, the weather abruptly turned sunny and warm, remaining this way for the rest of the month. Mother Nature fully acquiesced to the needs of the vines and created the exact conditions required for proper berry ripening.

Rapid veraison occurred during the weekend of August 12th. By August 16th, about 80% of the Sargamuskotály berries and almost 50% of the Furmint and Hárslevelű had begun to ripen. In our vineyard parcels dedicated to sweet wine production, botrytis began slowly setting in towards the latter part of August.

Two sprayings were completed in the first half of August. Continued observations in the vineyards have led our field team to believe that the series of biodynamic treatments during the growing season along with the warm and sunny weather have effectively minimized oidium problems for this vintage. Our field team continues to control vegetation underneath the vines and between the rows leading up to harvest. At this time, we expect to begin the 2011 vintage harvest around September 15th.

2011.09.30

The 2011 Királyudvar harvest commenced on September 13th when our field team harvested Sárgamuskotály berries from the early ripening Danczka vineyard. Over the following two weeks, we continued to harvest berries across the vineyards to be used in our sparkling and dry wines, finishing in our Becsek vineyard on September 29th.

Dry, warm weather in September allowed us to perform this vintage's dry harvest with relative confidence and ease. Night temperatures dropped to below 10°C only in the final days of September. Despite the extended period of dry weather from August through all of September, the berries showed no signs of stress. Across all our vineyards, sugar levels were measured to be within the ideal ranges, and the balancing acids appear fine and lovely. 2011 is setting up to be a strong vintage for dry wines.

We will wait patiently to see if any high-quality Aszú berries develop next month. So far, because of the absence of rain or river fog, there is no significant botrytis in any of our vineyards. Hárslevelű berries have begun to shrivel, and we expect the furmint berries to follow suit shortly. Without a significant amount of rain in the beginning of October, any Királyudvar sweet wines crafted in 2011 will be produced from fully, shriveled berries.

2011.10.31

The month long wait in October for the development of botrytis turned out to be unfruitful. Limited rainfall and the absence of an Indian summer dashed any hope for the production of aszú wines for the 2011 vintage.

Királyudvar picked late harvest furmint from the high Lapis Terraces on October 6th. After a three week pause, Királyudvar completed its 2011 harvest in the last week of October. During this last week, the Királyudvar team picked late harvest Hárslevelű from the lower Lapis Terraces as well as heavily shrivelled grapes from the Lapis mid-slopes and the top of Betsek for the 2011 Cuvée Ilona. On October 28th, the last day of the 2011 harvest, the team brought in a final harvest of grapes from Betsek with ripeness levels ideally suited for demi-sec.

The grapes harvested for the 2011 Kiralyudvar wines are extraordinary in quality in terms of structure, acidity, and fruit density. There is much optimism with the winemaking team as we await the completion of fermentation in the cellar.