On 16th October, we picked our Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from Bibescu vineyard, this way closing our harvesting season 2018.
We were really happy with this year´s autumn – since the start of harvest on 17th August, the weather was perfect until now, allowing us to follow attentively the healthy ripening of each grape variety, and to choose the best possible dates for harvesting each single plot of grapes.
The first grape variety was – as usual – Sauvignon Blanc on 17th August, two weeks earlier than in the last couple of years. Tămâioasă from Tiberie vineyard, for our dry version of this wine, followed on 23rd August. Then Bengescu Vineyard gave us abundant quantities of Crâmpoșie – big, well nurtured, tasty, crispy grapes. We had the chance to choose only the best quality for our wine, selling the remaining grapes to local people.
This luckily is still a living tradition in Romania: people coming to the wine regions in autumn and buying grapes, in order to make their own wine at home, in their courtyard, cellar, kitchen or bathroom – and for them it´s the best wine in the world, of course!
We consider this a precious part of Romanian wine culture, keeping alive the direct connection of many Romanians to winegrowing and winemaking. This practice existed as well in many wine regions in Western Europe, but disappeared 30-50 years ago. We are glad to contribute with a part of our grapes – and sometimes also with technical advice – to the preservation of this centuries-old tradition!
Weather kept nice, sunny and warm all over the time, until we picked our red grapes of Negru de Drăgășani and Novac on 27th September – both well balanced, intensely coloured and again more than enough grapes: nature really spoiled us, after two years of small harvests, due to late frost damages.
Cabernet Sauvignon was the last grape variety to ripen, like every year, and it was worthwhile waiting until 16th October – you just need a little bit of patience to taste the final result in two years time…!
Ileana & Jakob Kripp
