Harvest finished at Ferdinand Winery in Goriška Brda on 14 September. After one of the hottest growing seasons in recent memory, the story of the 2026 harvest is one of heat, lower yields and a native grape variety that seems remarkably well equipped to cope with both.
Harvesting at 40°C
Temperatures in the vineyards reached as high as 40°C this year. That creates obvious challenges for the grapes, but one of the less discussed problems is managing the people who have to pick them.
Ferdinand’s vineyards are harvested by hand, and during the hottest periods the team began extremely early in the morning and tried to finish as early as possible. Regular water breaks were essential.
Starting earlier isn’t quite as simple as moving the working day backwards. Before sunrise, pickers need additional lighting, and there is a greater chance of missing bunches in the darkness.
Then there is the landscape itself. Goriška Brda is extraordinarily hilly. Many of Ferdinand’s vineyards sit on steep slopes and terraces, making tractor work challenging even in daylight. Working those slopes overnight would introduce another level of difficulty altogether. The compromise was therefore to start very early, rather than harvesting through the night, and get as much fruit into the winery as possible before the worst of the day’s heat arrived.
Less fruit and less juice
The heat also took its toll on the crop. Some parcels suffered severe sun and heat damage, with grapes effectively scorched on the vine. Overall quantities were consequently low.
There was another reduction once the grapes reached the press. Ferdinand would ordinarily expect around 0.7 litres of juice from each kilogram of grapes. This year that fell to approximately 0.6 litres per kilogram.
That difference sounds small, but across an entire harvest it is significant: around 14% less juice from the same weight of fruit.
The hot conditions also meant relatively high sugar levels across several varieties, bringing with them the prospect of higher alcohol. And then there was Rebula.
Thank goodness for Rebula
Rebula is the native white grape of Goriška Brda and one of the last varieties Ferdinand harvested this year. In fact, it was still being picked alongside Merlot at the very end of harvest.
That alone tells you something about the variety. Rebula is naturally late-ripening, with thick skins, characteristically high acidity and relatively restrained sugar accumulation. Even in warm conditions, it can retain the freshness that defines it. Ferdinand’s Rebulas typically remain below 13% alcohol.
In a cool year, those characteristics are useful. In a year like 2026, they become extremely valuable. While the heat pushed sugar levels higher in other varieties, Rebula’s ability to retain acidity while ripening slowly helped preserve balance. Its thick skins are another important part of its identity, particularly for the longer-macerated styles for which both Ferdinand and the wider Brda region have become known.
It is a variety that evolved here, on these steep hills between the Alps and the Adriatic, and this year’s harvest offered a fairly compelling demonstration of why that matters.
Thank goodness for Rebula.