Inviting aroma of yellow apples, slightly creamy, delicate fruity style, lively, well-balanced acidity, pleasant character, piquant-spicy mineral notes in the finish.
Weingut Nigl, tucked deep in the Krems Valley on the edge of the Senftenberg mountain, often evokes feelings that one has traveled back to medieval times; the wines Martin Nigl creates are as ethereal as the vine lands that they come from. Martin Nigl is a first-generation winemaker, beginning in 1985 after convincing his family to keep the fruit from their small quantity of vines and bottle it themselves rather than selling it to the local co-op. The history with grape-growing is not nearly as recent though; the Nigl family has been farming here for over 200 years. Martin Jr. recently joined his father at the domaine and they are now working side by side in the vines and cellar.
The collection of vineyards on the terraces of Senftenberg’s southwest facing slope is outstanding: Höchacker on the top terraces, Pellingen directly below, the Piri, and 4 small terraces called the Kirchenberg next to the winery. Nigl also has vineyards in the village of Krems, mostly planted to Grüner Veltliner including some very old vines, 75 years in age, planted on loess soils that contribute more opulent fruit and a creamier texture.
Martin practices sustainable farming, never using herbicides or insecticides, plants cover crops of legumes and herbs, and avoids copper, a mainstay in the biodynamic arsenal, but which he considers detrimental to his vines’ vitality, and harmful to the soil.
In the cellar, Nigl works almost exclusively in stainless steel, never de-stems, uses only ambient yeasts, settles musts by gravity only, racks twice, and never fines before bottling. The resulting wines are some of the most crystalline, transcendent bottlings in the portfolio.
