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Richard Hemming MW

Yield is one of the most cited data when speaking about quality wine. The obvious deduction is that the lower the yield is, the more concentrated the fruit will be, and so will the outcoming wine. AAWE (American Association of Wine Economists) has just pubished a chart with the average yield of the major wine producing countries. Germany is on the top with more then 9 tons / hectare, while Hungary has a moderate average yield / hectare with around 4 tons per hectare. Surprisingly enough Switzerland is rather on top even though its steep vineyards are hard to cultivate, and Spain, the biggest bulk wine exporter is much below the world average with 3.4 tons / hectares. The problem probably lies in the too big span examined by AAWE: Spain has invested a lot in irrigation system and other production increasing techniques recently. But the „mass productive Switzerland” is still a mystery. And low yield does not necessarily covers quality production, it can also be a result of aged, less productive vineyards. AAWE promised to share the whole database soon, which hopefully will turn the light on for us.

Meanwhile we suggest a clever writing by Richard Hemming MW, who has collected an immense amount of datum to make things clearer for us regarding the question of yield (including an example to show the yield of a grand cru burgundy):

 Yield – lowest

Directly related to vine density is one of the most oft-cited pieces of data, yield. Normally expressed in hectolitres per hectare, where a hectolitre equals 100 litres, it gives a measurement of how much wine is produced from a given area. Again, there’s a presumption that vineyards yielding less wine should equate to higher quality, because restricting the volume of fruit being grown is supposed to result in greater concentration. The truth is more complicated, and requires some basic mathematics.

Yield is often enshrined in the appellation laws of traditional areas. One of the lowest is for grand cru burgundy, where a maximum yield of 35 hl/ha is specified for Le Musigny, for example. Importantly, vine density is also specified in these regulations, set at 10,000 vines/ha. With these two facts, we can start to put the figures in context.

Generally speaking, it takes between 130 and 160 kg of grapes to produce 100 litres of wine. For the sake of convenience, let’s say the average is 142 kg. So, 1.42 kg of grapes makes one litre of wine. Therefore, if one hectare of Le Musigny yields 3,500 litres, there must be around 5,000 kg of fruit (because 5,000 divided by 1.42 equals 3,500, near enough).

Hence why yield can also be expressed in tonnes per hectare – in this case, it would be 5 t/ha. Because we also know the planting density, we can calculate that each vine yields 0.5 kg of fruit, or approximately 0.35 litres of wine – so, roughly half a bottle per vine.

The lowest of all yields tend to be for nobly rotten sweet wine, whose grapes have shrivelled. In wine-trade folklore, Château d’Yquem produces only one glass of wine per vine. Can we prove this?

The average cited yield for Yquem is 9 hl/ha, which equals 1.2 t/ha of grapes. Planting density isn’t known, but its immediate neighbours have 7,000 vines/ha. That would give a yield per vine of 171 grams of fruit, which will produce around 0.12 litres of wine – very close to the standard small glass size of 125 ml. Rare indeed!

 Yield – highest

At the other extreme, the Savatiano variety can yield up to 250 hl/ha – 27 times greater than that of Yquem! – and almost certainly at a lower planting density. Of course, with fertilisation and irrigation, yields can be forced ever higher, though such factory farming would inevitably result in dilute, poor-quality fruit from overworked vines. A respectable average seems to be between 40 and 60 hl/ha for quality wines. For much more detail on yields, see the Oxford Companion entry.

 Yield – most expensive

Then of course, there is the consideration of the price of the grapes, measured either in US tons or metric tonnes. These two units are different (100 tons = 90.7 tonnes), but close enough to be able to make rough comparisons. 

In 2015, the average price for a ton of red wine grapes in California was $783 [pdf], yet, as Alder reported, the price of Cabernet Sauvignon from the legendary To Kalon vineyard could be as much as $50,000 per ton. In South Australia, the overall average price was AU$631 per tonne [pdf], ranging from Colombard from the Riverland at AU$203 per tonne up to Eden Valley Cabernet Sauvignon at AU$2,358 per tonne. Meanwhile, Ferran recently wrote that 90% of Spanish grapes were sold for less than €500 per tonne.

I’ve converted these figures into GBP, EUR and USD per metric tonne in the below table to allow for a comparison.

Richard Hemming’s whole article can be read here

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Another story – similar to the previous one – is that Kocsis had habits of that of a rich nobleman, spent a lot of money in pubs, drank till dawn – and his faithful carter took him home after the whole night drinking session. And he was so grateful to him, that he named his grape after his servant. Well, this story is probably a misunderstanding of Pál Kocsis’s name – Kocsis literally means carter / driver, and maybe the confusion is the lack of proper information.

The truth is none of the above stories: Irsai Olivér was of the son of a respected wine merchant, and the wine merchant was a good friend of Kocsis. Kocsis did not want to give his rather simple name name to the new grape – which is aromatic, even flamboyant, so it has nothing to do with simplicity. Kocsis showed a great respect towards his wine merchant friend, who happened to have a lovely son with a fairly interesting name – so that was it! The grandson of Irsai Olivér is a university student now in Szeged. Ripening early, Irsai Olivér gives a very aromatic, intense wine with grapey aromas, delicate spices. Easy drinking wine with medium-low acidity and alcohol, almost always vinified reductively for instant consumption. Irsai is planted widely in Hungary due to its popularity. Wonderful examples of the grape are produced in Kunság region, where the best winemakers can keep the aromatic character of the variety under control: not too perfume-like, aromatic, but still elegant. Also popular in Mátra, Balaton, Pannonhalma, Etyek–Buda, Neszmély, Sopron.

3 lovely examples of Irsai Oliver to celebrate and enjoy this wonderful, light-hearted, easy drinking grape variety

BABARCZI ESTATE, PANNONHALMI WINE REGION
PANNONHALMI IRSAI OLIVÉR 2015

Pale golden in colour with a floral bouquet of elderberry with hints of white flowers as well as citrus notes. Its gentle acidity gives refreshment, combined with a light body with a balanced palate of spices and citrus aromas. It is a characteristic, crispy, elegant light wine.

FRITTMANN WINERY, KUNSÁG WINE REGION
IRSAI OLIVÉR 2016

Straw yellow colour. Intense nose with flowers, citrus fruits, green apple and peach. The zest of crispy acidity gives the first impression followed by light body low alcohol content. The palate has the same flavours as on the nose. Pleasant finish with green spices and lime. A pronounced, aromatic wine and still great thirst-quenching.

KOCH WINERY, HAJÓS–BAJAI WINE REGION
HAJÓS–BAJAI IRSAI OLIVÉR 2015

The fabulous scent of a flowery spring meadow, bright sunshine and the the crispy freshness of the fruits are captured in the bottle. Open it and let them entertain you, enjoy the feeling!

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Jancis Robinson

We are glad to let our followers notify that our information supplying website has now been added to the list of regional websites in one of the world’s leading wine writer’s site: jancisrobinson.com.

Hungarianwines.eu is adamant to publish uptodate news about Hungarian wines day by day. We are of course happy to be listed in the prestigious site by Jancis Robinson, especially because she is definitely one of the most respected wine person in the world and we are honoured by her acknowledgement.

Jancis Robinson is a Master of Wine, an OBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) a scholar, author of a dozen of books, just a few to mention: The Oxford Companion to Wine, The World Atlas of Wine (with Hugh Johnson), Wine Grapes (with Julia Harding MW and José Vouillamoz).
Hungarianwines.eu is listed here:

https://www.jancisrobinson.com/learn/regional-wine-websites

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