On Friday, August 11th, internationally renowned wine critic James Suckling, considered one of the most influential wine critics in the world, visited the Brda region.

During his visit to Brda, he tasted wines from several producers from Brda. He wrote on Facebook about his experience, stating that in Brda he tasted many excellent wines that are rich, intense, and with great depth, reflecting the heroic viticulture on the steep slopes of Brda.

The famous American wine critic, James Suckling, was presented with a selection of wines from the de Baguer cellar. He recently published ratings of our wines on his website JamesSuckling.com. He was particularly impressed by rebula de Baguer single vineyard motnik 2017, which he awarded an impressive 94 out of 100 points, as well as the A plus red 2017 and de Baguer merlot-cabernet franc 2017, both receiving 93 points. In addition to these wines, he also tasted the de Baguer chardonnay-sauvignon blanc 2017 blend, which received an excellent score of 92 points.

All four highly-rated wines mature in the exclusive de Baguer cellar, where Klet Brda keeps its best wines. Wines from the de Baguer cellar are known for their maturity, structural richness, and exceptional elegance, which impress both experts at international competitions and wine connoisseurs. Production is limited to the best vintages in limited series.

On Friday, September 1, our wine-growing families began picking grapes for the base wines used in sparkling wines. Due to the consequences of the July hailstorm, we anticipate a smaller yield this year. Our wine-growing families are expected to deliver approximately 6,500 tons of grapes to the cellar. We anticipate a promising year for white varieties, while the quality of red varieties will be significantly influenced by the weather in the coming month. Grape prices will be higher, but the exact increase depends on the quality, which is still subject to the weather during the harvest.

For vine growers, this year’s season has been full of challenges. The cold spring delayed bud break and shoot development, and young shoots were exposed to various pests for an extended period. Summer also brought frequent rain, making protection against downy and powdery mildew demanding. This year, our early detection and infection monitoring system, which we have been developing for years, proved highly effective, enabling us to promptly inform vine growers about when and how to protect the grapevines from diseases. Vine growers who carefully followed the advice of our advisory service experienced less crop loss and significantly higher-quality yields.

In such a demanding year, differences in vineyard locations become evident, as areas with excellent vineyard sites had fewer phytopathological issues. In July, Brda was also hit by hail, resulting in a quarter of the crop being lost. Consequently, this year’s harvest will be more challenging as damaged grapes from the hail will need to be sorted, consuming a lot of time and requiring more pickers than during a typical harvest.

We began harvesting grapes for the base wines used in sparkling wines, produced from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, on Friday, September 1, 2023, and continued with Rebula for sparkling wines during the weekend. The regular harvest is expected to start this Thursday. The majority of the harvest will be completed by the end of September, while Cabernets and some special varieties will remain in the vineyards until mid-October.

Visits from business partners represent one of the most important marketing tools for Klet Brda, which is export-oriented. The reality experienced by Brda vine growers, who work on steep slopes, is often hard for foreigners to imagine. Only when they experience the harvest firsthand and feel the pulse of the local people can they truly understand the wines. We are currently hosting distributors from the USA, and this visit will be followed by visits from importers from Italy, China, Brazil, and Serbia.

During the harvest, we hope for dry and moderately warm weather. We wish you a pleasant September!

Join us at the International Wine Fair in Düsseldorf from 19th to 21st March 2023.

You will find us in hall 12/ A38.

In addition, we invite you to the Pinot Gris Masterclass workshop with Caroline Gilby, which will take place on March 19, 2023 between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. in hall 13/ F76 (FORUM 13.1).

Don’t forget to visit us also at the Vinitaly fair in Verona.

We look forward to seeing you!

We kindly invite you to Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris, from 13th to 15th of February 2023.

Visit us in hall 5.2, stand D25.

We will present our most recent wines and awarded wines.

We’re looking forward to meeting you there!

This year, the winegrowing families of Klet Brda will in total produce 6,300 tons of grapes, which is 15% less than the expected annual crop of 7,500 tons. More affected were the exposed sites on top of the hills, where the loss of crop will amount to 30%, while the loses on the lower sites will not be as severe. The harvest of 2022 promises red wines of high quality.

This year’s summer was dry and hot. At the beginning of the harvest, which took place earlier, this year, the agronomists made concerning predictions about crop quantity due to the long drought we had experienced. Because we carefully monitor parameters in all our vineyards, we waited for the grapes to be adequately ripe. This together with the rain in September and our compliance with the principles of sustainable production in the vineyards has somewhat mitigated the consequences of this year’s long drought.

HARVEST

At Klet Brda, we started this year’s harvest for base wines for sparkling wines on 18^th August 2022, while regular harvest started on 26^th August 2022 and will end next week, when we will harvest Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.

Following a hot and dry summer, harvest in Brda started earlier this year. Unlike usually, when regular harvest takes place in the beginning of September, we started regular harvest in the last week of August.

PRICES

This year, buying-in prices of grapes will be higher by a quarter. The pricelist includes several changes. The buying-in prices were increased by 25% and the difference between average and premium quality has increased as well.

The average buying-in price for a kilogram of grapes will amount to approximately EUR 0.70 for our standard program and EUR 0.95 for our premium program. Prices for a kilogram of grapes will range between EUR 0.40 and EUR 1.35. Grapes from the best sites, which reflect not only general parameters, but special vineyard characteristics as well, will have a price of EUR 2.00 or higher.

Klet Brda has collaborated with selected winegrowers and partners as well as companies Telekom Slovenia and EFOS to introduce a pilot project for remote monitoring of pests in vineyards. In the framework of this project, we are testing a solution, which would enable winegrowers to remotely monitor the status of pests in their vineyards and receive a prediction of their movement 14 days in advance. This would allow them to take timely precautions and protect their vineyards before any damage occurred. Winegrowers could optimise the use of pesticides and only spray their vineyards where and when the pests are present. This would contribute to a significant reduction in use of plant protection products and a more sustainable production. You can learn more about this project in the enclosed material.

Usually, regular harvest would start in the beginning of September, this year, however, it will begin in the last week of August. This was caused by extreme weather conditions, which manifested in dry spring followed by dry and hot summer. Although vine is relatively resistant to drought, these extreme conditions have affected it, nonetheless.
In such extreme circumstances, we can truly see the significance of sustainable production and adequate allocation of vineyards. Sustainably cultivated and properly tended vineyards situated on right sites, where soil was prepared with an adequate amount of organic matter, have better withstood this year’s drought, and will suffer less loss and provide grapes of better quality.
We are faced with a harvest like no other before. We expect that this year’s vintage will be significantly smaller in quantity. The family vineyards of Klet Brda will bring in 4,000 tons of grapes, which is over half of the normal annual amount. The quality of the 2022 vintage looks promising, however, the weather during the harvest may still affect it. This year’s buying in prices will be higher by a quarter.

We stared harvesting grapes for base wines of sparkling wines of Pinot Noir on 18th August 2022 and then moved on to Chardonnay for sparkling wines. Our regular harvest is to start on 25th August. At Klet Brda, most of the harvest is expected to conclude by the end of September, however, late varieties and some other specialities will stay in the vineyards until the beginning of October. Although we are usually happy to have a dry fall in the vineyards, this year, some rain would be greatly appreciated, as it could still help late varieties recover.
At Klet Brda, we are convinced that visits from business partners are one of the most important marketing leverages that an export oriented Slovenian company can have, as the reality of winegrowers from Brda, who cultivate their vineyards on steep slopes, is inconceivable for many foreigners. It is only after they experience our harvest first hand and feel the pulse of the locals, that they can truly appreciate our wines. With that insight, they can present and sell our wines in their countries even more successfully.
From 2nd to 6th September, we will host a group of distributors from the United States and after that exporters from Poland, Serbia, and Italy. In October, we are expecting a visit from a group of buyers from Great Britain. In fact, we have especially high expectations for the later visit since Great Britain has proved to be one of the fastest growing markets in the recent years.