2022 began with an exceptionally dry winter and little snowfall. January was very sunny and dry with new record warmth; this trend continued throughout February. March was a little cooler. April started with cool temperatures, bud break was delayed a bit and took place around April 20th. Fortunately, there were no late frosts so the young shoots made it through spring without any damage. An exceptionally warm May accelerated growth and already by month’s end, the vines began to flower. The summer was characterized by warm and dry weather, fortunately without any extreme weather events.  The onset of the ripening of the grapes started early in the first week of August and was the prelude to an extremely early harvest that in fact began on September 7th, twenty days earlier than last year. Unlike previous years, harvest happened almost simultaneously... read more

The 2021 vintage growing season started in December with rainy/snowy conditions – we had a lot of rainy days with also low temperature conditions that remained for the majority of the winter season with snow covered vineyards around the monastery. March and April were unseasonably cold months and for this reason the vines had not yet started budding. Between April 10-20 there were also frost situations, however, we were able to surpass any damage because of the initial lateness of budding from the colder temperatures. At the end of April we did start to see the beginnings of budding even though cooler temperature persisted into May. Blooming officially started the second half of June which is typically 2 weeks later than usual. June and July were hotter and more humid than the average which caused big challenges in the vineyards.... read more