Season Calendar: Winemaking All Year Round
Winemaking through the seasons
January / February – Care & patience
- Check wines in the cellar, check airlocks (top up water) – ventilate the cellar well first: according to the SVLFG, fermentation gas (CO₂) collects near the floor and can be fatal
- Second or third racking if sediment is visible
- Autumn wines start to clarify
- Taste red wines from the last harvest – when are they ready to drink?
March / April – Spring review
- Check the quality of stored wines (taste, color, clarity)
- Bottle wines that have finished maturing
- Clean equipment and check for damage
- Order new yeasts and fining agents
May / June – First fruits
🟢 Start strawberry and rhubarb wine 🟢 Elderflower must (June): 20 elderflower heads, 1 kg sugar, 4 L water, lemon, yeast
- Light, summery sparkling wine possible – only in pressure-resistant sparkling-wine bottles with crown caps or sparkling-wine corks
July / August – Summer wines
🟢 Currant wine (black/red) – peak season 🟢 Raspberry wine, blackberry wine 🟢 Cherry and plum wine
- Process fruit as it comes, don't wait until everything is ripe
September / October – The main harvest
🟢 Grape harvest and pressing – the heart of the wine year 🟢 Elderberry wine (September) 🟢 Apple must – a classic from the autumn harvest 🟢 Quince wine (October)
- Get all demijohns ready, stock up on yeast and Campden tablets
November / December – Storing & tasting
- Let young wines from the autumn harvest ferment in peace
- Do the first rackings
- Enjoy Federweißer (young, still-fermenting wine)
- Bottle and label wines as Christmas gifts
Rule of thumb: There's always something to do in the cellar – and always something to taste. 🍷
Sources
- Social Insurance for Agriculture, Forestry and Horticulture (SVLFG): Weinbau – Gefahrstoffe: Gärgase, as of Oct 2018, accessed 5 Oct 2026
The sources support individual statements in this article. The organisations named have neither reviewed nor endorsed it.