HARVEST

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.

Japan is an advanced high-tech society with highly educated workforce and high purchasing power. It is a country in which gastronomy plays a significant cultural role. In 2013, the Japanese traditional cuisine, praised for its use of seasonal ingredients and centuries-old culinary techniques, was added on the UNESCO list of World Heritage. Joining France, Japan became only the second country to obtain this certificate.

15 years of collaboration with Belluna.
The leading Japanese catalogue and online retailer Belluna with annual market value of EUR 1,6 billion was founded in 1968 as a catalogue retailer, but over the years expanded its activities to online sale of food, clothes, and products for leisure and recreation activities. The Klet Brda Winery started working with them in 2006 and since then the scope of their collaboration has been slowly but steadily increasing. In fact, this year, the winery will surpass its plan of 300,000 bottles of wine. Most of the orders consist of Villa Brici, Quercus, and Sparkling Rebula, while Bagueri Superior line is the most sold during festive season. Belluna is a highly demanding business associate with exceptional professionalism, stability, and long-term mindset, which is why the winery has been collaborating with them for over 15 years.

Merging of Japanese cuisine and Slovenian wines.
For Japanese, preparing and serving food is a ritual which follows tradition and numerous details that require years of training. Merging their traditional gastronomy and Brda wines was an interesting challenge, which was successfully tackled by the Japanese Embassy chef Kenji Koyama and the Klet Brda Winery oenologist Darinko Ribolica.

Japanese are known as great art enthusiasts. As part of the Art circle festival, Hotel San Martin in Brda is home to the Japanese cultural embassy. Every year, it collaborates with the Japanese Embassy to host Japanese artists participating at the international visual arts festival, which takes place over the entire region of Brda and in parts of the Vipava Valley. The festival features artists from different countries, local winemakers, tourism providers, and representatives of different embassies in Slovenia. Some of the works created during this festival, which are usually displayed at the Japanese cultural embassy in Brda, were exhibited in the courtyard of the Klet Brda Winery as part of the Japan in Brda event.