Vintage description

Next to the big influences the winemaker and the vineyards have on a wine, the style gets heavily influenced by the weather of a year. After the great vintage of 1959 Josef Mantler sen. (1910-1987) decided to not add sugar to the wines anymore. In retroperspective the wines were the acidity was not tampered with were also more interesting so in the 1980s Sepp Mantler (*1952) decided to stop adding or reducing acidity. Since than the wines are “vintage pure” and show a lot of annual character.

The year opens with the third hottest January ever recorded. Only around 40mm of rain till easter, which is extremely low. After the warm January, February and March were quite cold leading to a very late flowering. The summer was than one of the dryest and hottest ever recorded so the vines were able catch up on the lost time which lead to the earliest harvest in austrian wine history. Start at the 27th of Augsut. Quantities above average, Quality good.

“hot and dry”

until June there was only about 120 mm of rain

Some vineyards had short shoots, especially Weitgasse, which may be due to the high yields of the past and frost damage.

On September 20, for the first time rain with 32 mm which caused of course immediately Botrytis.

“wet, difficult year”

Great frost damage due to late frost in the whole European wine world. Kremstal remained spared, only in the plains and on top of the mountains there was light damage. A good Austrieb followed an extremely humid summer. Peronsopora and Oidium were big problems. Only in the middle of August weather became more stable and a warm period followed until mid-October. Start of harvest in stable weather in late September. During the harvest, it was wet again, the picking had to be interrupted several times because of rain.

Due to much precipitation, maturity stuck in late autumn.

Especially marked by the fatal hailstorm in May (5.5.), which cost 70% of the total harvest.

After quiet weather in spring and a favorable flowering weather followed a very hot and dry summer, in which a heat wave replaced the next. In some places, the vegetation came to a standstill, especially young plants that could not be irrigated, got into stressful situations. Luckily, by mid of August, most of the wine-growing areas had some rainfall just in time.

Until then, a record was set: over 60 consecutive days with over 30 ° C in June and July.

Followed by a beautiful, stable autumn with numerous sunny days, but also relatively cool nights – which makes 2015 fundamentally different from years such as 2011 and 2006. Therefore, in general, the grapes could be picked without stress at the right time.

Due to the reduced yield and the warm weather, all wines are very full.

“Initially too dry then too wet”

From autumn of 2013 over the winter to summer, there was very little rainfall, but partly so favorable (80 mm in the middle of May) that the new crop grew well; so the total precipitation was only slightly over 300 mm until the end of August; the preceding winter was not only low in precipitation but also very mild; Rebblüte clearly earlier than in 2013, approximately comparable to 2012: full flowering of Grüner Veltliner at about June 12th; the cool August delayed maturity significantly.

The precipitation of late August and beginning of September of 50 mm followed by humid weather produced botrytis. Extreme loss of volume due to moldy grapes; also in October rainy days with simultaneous mild temperature makes Botrytis regrow; often only the choice was between total loss of quantity or harvest at low sugar was left; low grow of content of sugar due to large quantity and dilution due to repeated precipitation; beginning of picking already on September 23rd with the worst grapes affected by botrytis;

“Late with high acidity”

Long winter with good humidity; austrieb and flowering 1to 2 weeks later than 2012; Great heat from May 17th to 22nd, followed by a cool and wet end of the month. This weather makes Ausrieselung specially at Grüner Veltliner. This was quite positive for the quality at Weitgasse. In this Lage there was also hail in the size of a grain of shot.

On October 2nd there was frost, which forced us to pick Zehetnerin. Botrytis in all varieties except Grüner Veltliner and therefore Trockenveerenaulese at Gelber Muskateller Riesling and Chardonnay.

In the light category, the wines have high acidity. The top wines have a great balance with excellent forecast.

“Powerful with backbone and varietal expression”

After 2011 with extremely little rain (~ 350 mm), in this hardly any snow until the beginning of February. Very cold week until in February to -16º Celsius. Uneven Austrieb. On May 18th, a late frost damages all vineyards on the foot of the mountain; extensive damage in Pulkautal (30 cm had the shoot there).

The wines are juicy and with good variety fruit; in Erste Lagen with much expression as they have more backbone than the previous vintage.

“Dry and early”

A long cold and dry winter with only 3 cm of snow, night frost until mid of March, vines weakened after foliage loss by frost in winter before; Austrieb irregular,; dry spring; 5.4. first bud swelling; end of May beginning flowering; flowering quickly; very dry during the growing season; the year profits only from the rain of the previous year; late rain of 25 mm in September increases the amount to above average; the wines have soft acidity, high content of sugar, lots of alcohol, residual sugar in some wines

In the review, excellent wines with a little varietal character.

“Wet, late, cool”

long winter, snow until the end of February, cold to -17 C, budding about 2 weeks later than 2009, very cool and moist in May, partly botrytis on leaves and shoots, wettest May since 1870; on 21st June Weitgasse was not yet in bloom; partly Verrieselung at Riesling and Grüner Veltliner; Mid-July heat wave, August humid, cool, Peronospora, picking beginning on October 4th, in case of the Grüner Veltliner many dried berries, on October 21st frost of -4.5 degrees, leaves fall; Eiswein with Merlot on December 4th; the wines are acid driven, Gelber Muskateller with 10-11 g in the must, Riesling with 13g, primary fruit, acid well buffered;

Now the vintage tastes very interesting.

This year a lot of botrytis. Introduction of “Erste Lage”the by ÖTW.

Due to high rainfall in the middle of September combined with high temperatures there was a botrytis boost especially with Riesling. The situation Wachau was quite difficult. We started on 21st September with the selection of Riesling grapes affected. Thereafter, the development was quite slow as the mature ones were already picked. After initially rapid spontaneous fermentation many musts over 19 KMW had problems with final fermentation.

Wine style quite compact, with BSA at Spiegel very soft. Often high-colored, licorice, alcoholic.

Peronospora!

During the entire growing season, repeated rainfall combined with enough warmth brought a pressure of infection as hardly a year before. Already at flowering there were big failures. The Austrian total harvest was not so much affected, only organic estates. Generally lean wines, with us because of massive yield reduction 18 KMW or higher with high acidity.

The mild and very snow-poor Weinter 2006/2007 was followed by an early budding and subsequent flowering vines as they were registered in the Kremstal so far only once: well before June 1. In the case of the Grüner Veltliners, it was possible to find good slipperiness after flowering. Shortly after the flowering – on 19 June – there was a heavy hailstorm over the core area of ​​the Kremstal. The area of damage extended from the valley of the Krems over Gneixendorf to south of the Danube. The damage in the Kremser Ried Sandgrube was especially blatant.

The vegetation period until early September was dryness, which was then ended on 5 and 6 September by a heavy rainfall of 100 liters per square meter. At this time, the berries of Kremstal’s main Grüner Veltliner were already in the soft. This sudden supply of moisture has just put this variety into extra quantity. The harvest forecast, which until then was rather below average, has been significantly revised upwards. The Riesling was still much less advanced at this time in maturity – and therefore the berries less extensible.

The general harvest began around mid-September. It can therefore be said that 2007 is one of the very “early” years. The challenge was not the high must weight, but to find the optimal balance between the ingredients and the physiological ripeness of the berries.

Due to high sugar maturity – a characteristic for warm, dry years – the alcohol formation during fermentation was above average. The lighter green Veltliner show classic fruit and pleasant drinking flow with a pleasant round finish. Significantly edgier they present the Angang October harvested Rieslings.

Traditionsweingüter Österreich

Extremely long and cold winter until mid-March; very snowy with ruined roofs;

Flowering later than normal because of the cool spring; then because of great heat considerable Verrieselung at Grüner Veltliner;

rain of about 100 mm at the beginning of July, heat wave until the end of July; August humid in the beginning, but generally cool; Backlog of vegetation caught up! Beginning of picking on 25th September; after the damp and cool August, weather was only dry and stable; sugar in the juice from 18 KMW upwards, acidity initially high, then until mid of October especially at Grüner Veltliner dropped sharply to <6 g/l; Alcohol very high, hardly any wines below 13% vol.

Opulent juicy wines.

Not very cold winter, spring stays cool for long time, then fast budding, bloom at the beginning slowly because of cool weather, then very fast; July: 2nd week optimal, because slow rain (80 mm); our river Kamp is a few days (until 13.7.) near the flood (70 m3 / sec.). The whole month of July wet but not cold; in August little sun and few stable warm phases, September friendly and some rain for ripening; at picking some botrytis (especially Grüner Veltliner, Chardonnay, Riesling),

Beginning of picking on 26.9. Selection of botrytis berries as a result of burst berries. All varieties were affected by botrytis, but especially Chardonnay. Style of the wines were similar to 2004 but with more power. Riper acidity. Wide range in must sugar. All quality grades up to Beerenauslese harvested. Eiswein on December 13th.

Great wines.

heavy snowfalls in winter partly compensated the heat year 2003; late Austrrieb, because of a cool spring, flowering also was late.

June and July were also cool; beautiful August and September; with the beginning of harvest at Mantlerhof on 17th October (as late as never) began damp weather, with frequent drizzle; the increase in must weight was very small; all varieties developed Botrytis, especially Riesling (Steingraben was completely brown)

The style of the wines is characterized by good acidity and classic varietal fruit. The acidity is high but not pointed. Single vineyard and picking time are reflected very well in the wines. Botrytis wines were very difficult to get due to the lack of warm-dry weather conditions.

Beginning of the screw cap age at Mantlerhof. A favorite vintage.

In winter some weeks with massive cold to – 15 degrees. The snowfall was in total high (Vienna over 1 m). The winter was continuing until the middle of March. The expectation of a rather late year is justified. Abruptly and without transition, summer weather came. It was a summer with tropical temperatures. The hottest summer since records began.

The start of the year was unspectacular. The mild, dry winter was followed by a friendly, dry spring. A sunny March and April favored early sprouting and a very early flowering as well (beginning of flowering in late May!). By mid-June, the berries were already pea-sized. June and July were so hot that you could expect a style of wine like 2000.

On 2nd July 18:00 there was the most massive hailstorm since time immemorial. The effects of in some vineyards total defoliation of the vines could not be assessed at all. Vineyards planted transversely to the direction of the wind were particularly damaged.

Anyway, there was an absolute halt in vegetation for two weeks. As a result an abundance of side shoots developed, which reached the length of 40 cm within four weeks.

On the 8th of August there was a dramatic change in weather. Continuous rainfall brought unprecedented flooding. Mantlerhof with all fields was completely under water. Wet weather lasted the whole period of maturation and picking. At picking, we were constantly driven by newly developing Botrytis.

There was record botrytis and barely dried berries. It was necessary to pick several times.

The white wines have good extract, good freshness and fruit and a pleasing variety type. It is in the style between the years 2000 and 2001.

Grüner Veltliners have their strong sides at the lighter end of the spectrum. It has been very difficult to increase sugar to higher levels, as Grüner Veltliner processed most of the rain directly into quantity.

The Rieslings developed continuously in concentration and bring a lot of variety fruit and juiciness.

Little snow and not very cold winter, beginning of flowering in normal time, summer with hot weeks, then again some days cool and rainy, towards the end of August again very cool and rainy (about 100 mm); beginning strong botrytis especially in Grüner Veltliner; fresh wines with high acidity

very early sprouting and flowering, one of the hottest and driest years ever (the hottest summer since 1780), acidity problems are feared, therefore beginning of the picking in the second week in September; because of early picking especially in Grüner Veltliner stress notes in the nose; the low acidity is harmonious in taste; very high alcohol production (most wines over 13%).

Little snow in winter but good rainfall in spring, early flowering (Chardonnay on the 5th June), because of rain delay in flowering on the plateau (Weitgasse), strong shoot growth because of many small precipitation during the summer; because no botrytis-chemicals were used, in our case a lot of Botrytis in Riesling, Roter Veltliner and Chardonnay; some wines with fermentation problems and residual sugar;

A strong finish for the decade. Quality – and also quantity – great.

A year of contrasts in the weather. After a picture-book summer with advance in vegetation, there was a rainy autumn with stagnation in maturity development. The consequence of constant rain until mid-October was the development of an extensive Botrytis.

The last week of October saved the year! A series of days with intensive “Fön” (a hot and dry wind) caused the botrytis berries to shrink, making wines that could rightly be called “big”.

At the turn of the year regionally very low temperatures up to -30 degrees caused immense frost damage (especially the northern Weinviertel). In July extensive rain with century floods. The soil in the vineyards absorb the water well. Afterwards it was very dry until harvest with beginning dry damages. One frost was in the third week of October with -7 degrees.

The wines have almost the character of a hot year. They are harmonious in the acidity (lots of wine), low extract, opulent and good variety fruit. Sugar degrees strongly dependent on the yield. Musts from 17 KMW up!

Cold winter with long snow cover (Nov. to April), late sprouting, wet cool summer, humid weather even at harvest-time, very high acidity values of more than 10 g / l, low must weights and additional botrytis create a pessimistic mood for the vintage. The early leaf fall stops the production of sugar. The possibility for adding sugar has been increased. The good humidity of the year brings very high extract values, which balance the acid well. The (small) top of the vintage has an extraordinary format. It is the year of Veltliner fruit.

Mild winter, wet spring; because of late flowering a low quality vintage was expected. Due to the hot summer, the lag was caught up. At the beginning of September, a warm and humid weather period began that lasted far into the harvest. The sudden supply of water caused many berries to burst. In combination with the moisture, this was an ideal basis for botrytis. Especially in Rohrendorf-Gedersdorf there was most massive Botrytis ever. Selection of the affected grapes helped little. The dry period of the second half of October caused high concentration of the juice. With the right choice of harvest-time probably the largest vintage at least of the decade. We had at least one Beerenauslese of each grape variety. The first harvest of Neuburger was TBA with a yield of 200 bottles.

Year of Birth
Josef Mantler jun.

Year with early vegetation, good grape harvest, hot dry summer, the ripness especially with Riesling stagnated due to the drought, despite appropriate must weights a physiological immaturity in normal Riesling; late harvest brings better aromas for the same must degree; it was unusual that Riesling suffered more from drought than the Veltliners. Quantity was certainly too high and this was the cause of the low extract in many wines. High alcohol production.

No wine in the vinothek.

Due to warm weather in January the vines started with grow too early. A cold backlash in early February with severe frost caused massive damage especially in Seewinkel. Little snow in winter and drought in spring; very early and fast vine flowering, starting at Chardonnay on 1.6. Good must weights with good acidity. Juicy wines with lots of varietal fruit. The best year of the dry years 92 to 94. The harvest quantity was strongly below average.

Mild winter, early shooting, month of May was dry and warm, subtropical hot and dry summer with massive drought damage (hottest summer since 1811). The labouring of green manure was not carried out in time. Beginning of picking on the 28th of September and first frost was already on the 13th of October. Due to the heat in summer a lot of sugar in the must, but very low Extrakt and acidity. The young wines are tasting as if they were already one year old – but they also change little in the years to come. The wines have a soft, floury character. The assessment of the year was initially euphoric, then chritical, after a few years better again.

Year of birth
Agnes Mantler

Dry, not very cold winter, due to cool spring and early summer weather delay in budding and flowering – the month of May is cold and with a lot of rain, massive shoot damage in Riesling, start of flowering very latte on 20th June; cool, rainy summer (end of July a lot of rain caused flood of the Danube, part of Krems was flooded), sunny September and October saved the vintage. Legendary night frost with – 4 degrees at night on the national holiday, all leaves were frozen. Acid-accented, fruity, lean wines, but keeping well. Qualitatively one of the smaller vintages of the decade. Because of thigh acidity the young wines were covered, later they developed into fine varietal character. First vintage with “Erste Lage” on the label.

Year of Birth
Viktoria Mantler

very dry winter, early start of vegetation, then cool spring, wet and early summer, extremely hot midsummer. Then precipitation, which enabled the physiological ripeness. Opulent, juicy, balanced wines, which show with primary fruit for many years. One of the most complete vintages.

Early start of vegetation. Both spring and summer are humid and cool. Shortly before the harvest some hot weeks increased the sugar content of the berries strongly. But anyway the wines are rather light, fragrant with beautiful acidity and above average extract. Very light wines that are quite interesting in the review. May be still a bit harsh.

Winter without frost damage. Early budding. Because of cool spring, the lead turns into retarded vegetation. Rather late flowering in mid-June. A very hot, dry growing season follows. Three weeks before the harvest, there was lot of rain, which resulted especially at Grüner Veltliner in quantity. This makes the wines look a bit thin. In the case of the Roter Veltliner and Chardonnay, the massive botrytis produces powerful wines.

Chardonnay was raised in oak from different origin.

Spring was cold and humid; new plantations in Spiegel, Weitgasse; late year – flowering at the end of June! Summer moist, cool, harvest from 15th October on, fresh acidity, with Riesling Tiefenthal > 10g,

Nevertheless good average harvest. The wines impressed by special variety typicality and fine, ripe acid. They keep their primary fruit very long. Bright, lively and spicy wines.

The winter frosts of the previous year were still effective and already the sprouting did not allow the hope for a big harvest in terms of quantity. The harvest was again reduced by poor flowering (wet and cold weather, especially during the flowering of the good sites).

Later weather was favorable. A particularly long, warm and dry autumn allowed the grapes to become fully ripe and even overripe in good health (GV Spiegel 22.5 KMW without botrytis – last harvest before clearing). This wine was finally voted the “World champion wine” in the USA. We quarreled at that time because the Ministry issued a regulation on the earliest possible time of the beginning of picking (7 October) after the shock of the previous year. Much too late for us!

The wines have a nice basis, without tasting sour. Even dry wines taste a little sweet. All varieties express their character clearly. One of the most concentrated vintages.

GV Spiegel was forseen as a sweet wine, but fermentation unplanned went to the end. It had not very much individuality in its youth. Storage in a large barrel until 1988. During this time fortunately it developed a convincing character and I decided to bottle it.

The wines of the vintage are far developed, but that does not matter, as they have lot of substance.

Winter frost to below -25 degrees C led to serious damage to the vines (especially the Rote Veltliner was affected), resulting in the lowest harvest of the last decades.

A warm summer, enough rainfall and a nice dry autumn created the basis for excellent qualities. The grapes were healthy, had physiological maturity and a favorable sugar-acid ratio in early October.

The proportion of predicate wines was very high. The wines are fragrant on the nose, fruity and full, with a distinctive varietal character with beautiful acidity. An outstanding vintage.

Late shooting, very late flowering, cool summer and low rainfall during the main development of the grapes. Disaster mood until just before the harvest. Picking starts due to the beautiful autumn weather very late, generally after 15th October.

Then surprising qualities from healthy grapes. Satisfactory must weights with a relatively high acidity which greatly enhanced the cleanliness, fruitiness and expressiveness of the wines.

Early budding. A hot and dry growing season allows perfect grapes with high degree of ripeness to grow. Austria recorded a heat record. In Dellach in the Drautal (Kärnten) measured 39.7 degrees Celsius, the highest value since the beginning of weather records.1983 is highly praised because of the high must weights to the century vintage, later criticized. Beginning of the rise of Styrian wines. The alcohol yield is exceptionally high, the extract content and the acid are particularly low. Typical vintage bouquet. In the review the wines taste now quite good.

With 4,9 million hl the biggest quantity of wine in Austria ever. Draught in autumn retards ripening. Straight, fruity wines with good varietal character but little extract.

A small vintage from the quantity point of view.

A year that changed several times…

The vineyards overcame the winter nor in good condition: temperatures up to -15 degrees caused damages. Early high temperatures already in March caused swelling of the buds. At Easter time temperature of up to – 6 degrees freezed the shoots. The side buds had to resprount to replace the damaged main buds.

Perfect weather from flowering on changed the backwardness of vegetation till September into an advance.

Then again a caper. Intensive rainfall at the end of September caused intense botrytis. It was to save the nerves. There were warm temperatures in October and November: shrinkage of the berries.

Sugar was surprisingly high with moderate acidity. Physiologically high ripeness. Riesling Tiefenthal shows botrytis in form of white balls. It is not whine stone but a calcium conjunction.

Completely cool summer and early beginning of winter (snow in November). Low degrees (maybe only surpassed by 1965. High acidity especially at Grüner Veltliner and Riesling. The wines keep astonishingly well. For the first time extra bottling of GV Weitgasse with far below 10 % alcohol. At the beginning of ripening poisonous-green aroma which develops quite attracively.

Bloom early and warm beginning of summer but then cool. Favorable rainfall at ripening-time and warm autumn formed the basis for an exceptional vintage. All grapes in all vineyards reached or surpassed physiological ripeness. The excellence of the vintage is its volume and its supple aftertaste.

Delayed bloom and then unusual long flowering. Many grapes. Cool and dry summer (the most dry since 1945) followed by a stable autumn, which enabled picking also during November. Due to large quantity low to medium sugar in the grapes. Light and flowery wines with good expression of variety. Many thin wines .

Frost in spring makes enormous damage, the quantity is far below average. Excellent vintage which competes with 1979. Dry and warm autumn, therefore no botrytis. Full-bodied and fruity wines from perfect grapes. Expressive Grüner Veltliner and Riesling which are really great as Spätlese and Auslese. Legendary vitage. In bouquet the style is from primary fruit to coffee.

Hot summer but wet and cool autumn force us to early picking because of developing botrytis. Flowery but a little tannic and short wines – except some late harvests. Last vintage of Gewürztraminer.

Normal bloom followed by an extremely dry and cool summer with long stagnation of maturation of the grapes. Then unrivalled autumn with temperatures between 25 and 30 degrees. The grapes were perfect, juicy with physiological ripeness. Normal content of sugar – many Qualitätsweine and few Prädikate. Wines which were unapproachable at the beginning but with good forecast. Which came true.

Small both in quantity and quality; after some storing some wines were very drinkable and had good fruit

Excellent wines. Cool and rainy second half of July, heat wave in August and great part of September. Then again rain and a sunny October. The wines were aromatic, full-bodied and had balanced acidity. From Traminer we got a dry Auslese, which was rare at that time in our cellar.

Unfavorably cool summer, early frost destroys the leaves and forces picking middle of October; very big volume with middle to small qualities.

Difficult year because of draught, small quantity

Long lasting winter, dry and hot May, heat-period from July till September, period of rain and then again dry, early picking; excellent wines, top of the decade

No note, no wine stored

With great part of botrytis in the grapes, beautiful wines which keep with detectable botrytis character; notably a Riesling-vintage

Late shooting, late and cold summer and early frost, exceptional low-quality, unripe, sourly wines; the weakest vintage ever – even with small quantity; no wine stored

Very high quantity, even reservoirs for water were filled, the wines  are aromatic and marked in varietal aroma, the highest quantity up to now, no wine in the vinothek

Winter cold with extremely much snow, hot and dry summer, afterwards rain which favours botrytis; dry again at the beginning of October; great vintage, top qualities – especially Riesling with special ripeness, good acidity and elegance

Winter with almost no snow, early shooting and bad flowering; qualities below average,

Strong millerandage, very dry year with extremely hot summer, small to medium harvest with excellent wines; early ripening, low acidity because of heat in august

Qualities below average but now the wines taste excellent

Great year over all grape varieties – even Riesling late harvest. The last vintage of Gelber Muskateller. Decision of Josef Mantler not to chaptalize any more.

No notes

Very warm January, work in the vineyards in skirt-sleeves, in March frost came back with up to -20 degrees, frost-damage, extremely small harvest (the gapes were carried with buckets to the cellar)

No notes concerning the year

No memos concerning the year

No notes concerning the year

Early year; same wine in 0,7 and 2 l bottle; the latter is much better

Year of birth
Sepp Mantler

No notes concerning the year

No notes concerning the year

Legendary vintage with extremely high sugar in the grapes; shortages of bottles and kork on the market;