Introducing...Andi Weigand!

Andi Weigand

Germany, Bavaria, Iphofen
 

Andi Weigand is part of the new wave of "college-escapee" winemakers sweeping Germany, overturning old expectations of his homeland's wine, but with a definite sense of place.

We were introduced by 2Naturkinder : being practically neighbours, they share ideas (and joint custody of Nick Hanel) in the vineyards. The second generation of his family to make wine, Andi was inspired by visits to natural winemakers with his college mates.

Vineyards are mostly on or around the Iphöfer Kronsberg, a hill which rises precipitously from the plain below. Unique Keuper soils give the wines power without high alcohol. Andi works on the sides or lower down the hill to achieve more subtlety in his wines compared to other area producers, whose steep south-facing slopes now receive much more sunshine – perhaps climate-change induced.

Mixing tradition with progress Andi uses an 80-year-old basket press and vinifies in large German oak. He also experiments with maceration in qvevri.

His cuvees have just landed - we've had a chat:

"My dad was the first in our family to start making wines, and I took over in 2015. We converted to organic winemaking with the first natural vintage coming out in 2018. I am really lucky to have parents who are open-minded enough and had confidence in the future of natural wines, as most people around here were still more inclined towards commercial wines. But they acknowledged my passion and drive and let me go ahead with it, and we are all pretty happy with the results. 

"Today, my dad and I work together: I am the head behind the production and he works in the background and let’s me lead the way.

“I am happy to have good friends in the industry such as 2Naturkinder and the Brand Brothers - we all help and motivate each other. It's great to be part of this group as we all grow together.

"Right now, there is a clear natural winemaking trend happening in Germany. People are turning away from commercially made products full of pesticides. I am happy to have good friends in the industry such as 2Naturkinder and the Brand Brothers - we all help and motivate each other. It's great to be part of this group as we all grow together.

"Talking about the vintages you have received, 2019, just like 2018, have been really hot years for us. In 2019 the harvest was rather small due to little water reserves, but of incredibly good quality. Probably the best one we've ever had. I am happy with the alcohol percentage which is 12%. Less than that I find them too edgy, more than that too boozy.

“For the whites: The grapes went initially through our 100-year-old direct press (we've got a cellar which is dating back to the 1600's). The juice then goes into wooden barrels housed there for about nine months. Then we bottle them up. Maybe it doesn't sound very spectacular but it is just my way of making wines: I want them to be fresh, reviving and I want the process to be clean and errorless. 

"As for the Skin 2019, this is a special one for us; skin-contact Silvaner from 40-year-old vines. We destemmed 50% of the grapes by hand to get totally healthy berries, and to keep the fruit intact. The other 50% we kept whole bunch, and added both whole-bunch clusters and destemmed berried to qvevri & amphora for 9 months. After, they were pressed, and bottled. It's fantastic to see how fresh & juicy a wine can still be even after 9 months on skins! 

"At the moment I am quite happy with the development of our vineyard. We are paying great attention to the care of the old vines, which if maintained well, can flourish for another 60 years. The next future project would be making wines biodynamically - we have already started making first steps in this direction!"

Now in Stock

WHITE

NEW 2019 White - Muller Thurgau, Silvaner, Scheurebe, Bacchus

NEW 2019 MTH - Muller Thurgau

NEW 2019 Silvaner - Silvaner

SKIN

NEW 2019 Skin - Silvaner

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A Chat with 2Naturkinder / Bat's Back

GERMANY, FRANCONIA, KITZINGEN

Micheal Voelker and Melanie Drese spent many years working in other fields, traveling the world and living in Heidelberg, Regensburg, London, and New York. In 2013 they returned to Bavarian Germany to begin taking over Michael’s father’s winery in Kitzingen. They began to make natural wines under the 2Naturkinder label as a side project for the winery, and in 2019 have fully expanded the project to take over the winery’s production. 

Our chat with Melanie (May 2020):

How has the pandemic affected you so far? Which challenges have you been facing? What became easier? 
It has affected us in different ways: First and foremost sales have dropped by 70 % I would say. We mostly export our wines to different countries and 70 % of our importers cannot sell any wines to restaurants at the moment. A lot of our distributers try to find a creative new way to sell the wines but it is not easy, especially when you only work with restaurants. It is obviously easier for those who have private clients or who are able to sell online.

It is interesting to see that in the last two months we sold more wine to German distributers. Not as much as to other countries but Germans seem to drink wine at home 😊 Also more private clients reach out and try to buy wines directly from us. This means more money per bottle but also more logistic work.

Which brings me to the next big challenge: we usually work with volunteers during harvest and vegetation season. Now with Covid-19 they all stuck in their countries and we have to do the same work with less people. Apart from the fact that there is less work force it also feels a bit lonely without all the volunteers. It is so much fun to meet people from all over the world, learn new things from them (baking bread or building a rooftop garden) and get inspired.

What are you currently working on?
We just planted a new vineyard with an old Franconian Pinot called Fränkischer Burgunder (an old autochthonous grape variety) and a vineyard with white hybrids. We think this is the way to deal with climate change. In the last years we have noticed that it is getting more and more difficult to work with some grape varieties who are very sensitive and don’t deal well with extreme heat or dryness or too much rain. In order to increase biodiversity and break up the monoculture we planted 30 apple trees right into the vineyard. Hoping the trees will also provide some shade. We are planning to build a biotope with lots of dead wood and different vegetables/herbs for all kind of animals.

What are your predictions for the rest of the year?
To be honest – no idea where Covid-19 will take us. It was a tough start for us flying solo without Michael’s father’s business. But we are optimistic that we can do it because we trust in our wines. We maybe we have to change the way we sell our wines. But we are pretty good in adapting. When we started making wine it was by far more difficult than it is now.

NOW IN STOCK:

WHITE
Fledermaus Weiss 2018 - Muller Thurgau, Silvaner, Riesling
”The blockbuster vintage is now taken up a notch! Still with the same major blending partners this is a more zingy and way more serious wine, finally under cork. Crushed and pressed in a pneumatic press (no skin contact!) Malolactic fermentation and aging on the lees in steel (Silvaner, Riesling) and big oak (Müller-Thurgau) Bottled: March 2019.”

RED

Fledermaus Rot 2018 - Schwarzriesling / Pinot Meunier
”The 2018 harvest of the red “Fledermaus” was a joy. Healthy bunches. And super early. August 25th! The red Fledermaus is made of Schwarzriesling (a German word for Pinot Meunier) growing on shell limestone. Because of these beautiful grapes we finally felt confident going carbonic again (whole bunches with a layer of crushed berries on the top). And it worked out beautifully. After pressing the wine finished fermentation partly in a stainless steel tank, partly in an old oak barrel and rested on the full lees until it was bottled in July 2019.”

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A Chat with 2Naturkinder

2Naturkinder

Germany, Franconia, Kitzingen

Micheal Voelker and Melanie Drese spent many years working in other fields, traveling the world and living in Heidelberg, Regensburg, London, and New York. In 2013 they returned to Bavarian Germany to begin taking over Michael’s father’s winery in Kitzingen. They began to make natural wines under the 2Naturkinder label as a side project for the winery, and in 2019 have fully expanded the project to take over the winery’s production. 

We've had a chat with Melanie:

How did the transition away from conventional winemaking go for you, since Michael's parents retired?
The winery which used to employ more than 40 people in the 1960s has shrunk to Michael and me. After six to seven years since we started this is a new beginning for us, a new structure. We have gone through loads of unexpected events which have really tested us such as broken machinery and staff drop-outs. We are still working through the transition but I think we will be able to find our balance in the coming few months. 
One of the biggest challenges will be the upkeep of the big estate, with a smaller wine production. 

How was last year's harvest for you?
Quite difficult. It was a very hot year. In addition to that, as 2018 hasn't been great, we could also feel the effect of that in 2019. Loads of dried up grapes, and we've particularly had huge losses of 60% of the Bacchus variety. Something that has never happened before! But, we are hopeful for this year. So far we've had loads of rain, which is great as it builds up water reserves in the soil.

So would you say these are the effects of climate change?
Absolutely. That's one of the reasons we have said that if we plant new vineyards, we will predominantly plant traditional grape varieties which can withstand the heat more.
We are actually about to take over two additional vineyards this year which will be newly planted. The first one this spring. As part of that, we will also be planting loads of trees in collaboration with the Landesbund für Vogelschutz , the same organisation we work with to preserve the life of bats in our vineyards. This is in order to counteract against climate change and it will also be really helpful for vines to cope with the heat.

What else is happening for you in 2020?
We will be bottling up a new 2018 Pinot Gris/Riesling blend called Veinschwärmer, which is inspired by an endangered bat species which has been reported roaming the vineyard. Both vineyards are right next to each other, but the Riesling has been planted a bit later so it is the younger one out of those two. For us, the variety didn’t work very well by itself and after experimenting with it for two to three years, we've had the idea to mix both varieties and Veinschwärmer is the end result!

Also, there is an idea of holding workshops on our estate, which isn't official yet. The workshops would be around natural wine, food, foraging – exploring different topics in general. As we are getting contacted often by people from all over the world who want to come see us and we've also got plenty of space on the estate, we would like to use it in creative ways. Getting like-minded people together sounded like a nice plan! More info to be released soon!

In general we are trying to travel less as there is just so much to do here, but this isn't really possible. Next we will be going to Lissabon as well as New York as the US is offering huge opportunities for the natural wine market.

As Michael said, in 2020 we don’t want to grow our business in terms of revenue or popularity. It’s about being content, implementing a better working structure, achieving a balance and accepting that things take time.

Now in Stock

Sparkling

2018 Bacchus Pet Nat - Bacchus
Crushed and pressed in a pneumatic press. "Noticing the benefit of blending fresh juice with a good splash of wine from the previous year we mixed Bacchus juice from the first harvest day with the same amount of a finished wine from 2017. And that’s why there is no vintage on the label this time. 2018 was the best Bacchus year we’ve ever had so 100% beautiful grapes were crushed and fermented on the skins for four days before being pressed and blended with a wine from 2017 (a blend of Bacchus and a bit of Silvaner). Bottling took place another three days after end of August. Warmly disgorged by hand in March 2019."

White

2018 V&S - Muller Thurgau
Malolactic fermentation and aged in fiberglass. "A super early vintage for almost everything including this Müller-Thurgau harvested in August 2018. Destemmed and pressed the juice fermented in a fiberglass plastic tank and was racked just two days before bottling."

Orange 

2018 Drei Freunde - Bacchus, Muller-Thurgau, Silvaner
"The top three planted varieties in Franken are Bacchus, Müller-Thurgau and Silvaner. Kind of logical playing with a blend. The previous vintages have been reflecting the growing conditions of each season and so does this one. 2018 was the best Bacchus year we’ve ever seen so there was a lot and it was perfectly healthy.
The three wines going into the blend were fermented and aged separately but similarly: semi-carbonic maceration for a week (whole bunches included only for the Bacchus), pressed and fermented & aged in steel (Silvaner, Müller-Thurgau) and one big old oak barrel (Bacchus)."

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