Good Vintage Expected despite the Early Harvest

This year saw a record early harvest due to the fact that the grapes received the necessary amount of heat for ripening much earlier than in previous years, István Ipacs Szabó, head of the Research Institute of Viticulture and Oenology at the University of Pécs (PTE) told Világgazdaság.

The early ripening has nothing to do with the drought, this year was simply that warm, hence the early varieties ripened by mid-July, the expert said. In addition, spring started earlier than ever before, therefore flowering was also earlier: it came already at the end of May, meaning that it started in the middle of the month.

The grapes have kept their advantage from the early spring, and the quality of the harvest is clearly good, with healthy grapes, good fruit content, sufficient acidity and a very rich flavor,”

he noted.

The still ripening blue grapes are also in good condition, and the stress caused by the lack of precipitation at this stage is particularly good for the high quality,”

said the expert, sharing his experience of the grapes grown on his own estate.

Harvesting of the grapes for Blaufränkisch rosé will begin there this week. For rosé, it is important to have enough acidity and not too high a sugar content: these are the parameters that count, not the biological ripeness. This is also a result of domestic tastes: “we like our rosé fresh, while the French think our rosés are unripe. And vice versa, it seems that for us, Provence rosés are less drinkable,” he pointed out, explaining the reason for the much earlier harvesting of rosés.

Világgazdaság, Featured image: MTI/Ruprech Judit