ROYAL TOKAJI LATE HARVEST 2009

The best description for the weather is ‘extreme’ for 2009. There was a lot of everything, but none in the right time. Temperature was as usual during winter and spring started the same way. Changing from winter to spring occurred at the expected date and we could think that we would face an average vintage up to the end of March. We should have forgotten it very soon. Budding started perfectly with lovely sunny days and high temperature, but we endured serious draught by the middle of May. Rainfall just exceeded 200mm for the first five months. Relative humidity of the air was generally perfect. Nobody remembers blossoming vines at the middle of May in the Tokaj region. Some early ripening varieties started then this year. While we would badly need dry, hot and sunny days during June because of the blossoming, we had the coldest June of the last ten years with 170mm rain. It dramatically influenced berry-setting of Yellow Muscat, but other varieties did not set as well.