How we made it
The 2018 harvest of the red “Fledermaus” (German for “bat”) 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.
The story
In 2014 we took over a vineyard situated in the town of Kitzingen where our winery is situated too. It used to be outside of town but over time houses and gardens grew around it, it’s a very unusual and unlikely place. Shortly after posting the first pictures of the vineyard we met a guy who dedicates a good part of his life to the bats of our area.
Together with local bat hero Christian Söder we developed the idea of a cycle: we get guano from local bat colonies – a wonderful fertilizer. In return we give a share of the revenue back to the bats via the Landesbund für Vogelschutz. And we put a bunch of bat boxes in the vineyard to offer opportunities for those lovely animals to hang out as they hunt at night – about 15 different species as Christian found out! The bat on the label is the grey long-eared bat which has become very rare in our area. It’s also incredibly cute and we want to help it stay around.
Fact sheet
Variety: Schwarzriesling / Pinot Meunier
Location: Kitzinger Eselsberg
Soil: shell limestone
Harvest: 24.08.2018
Yield: 46 hl/ha
Maceration for 5 days
Malolactic fermentation and aging on the lees in steel
Bottled: July 2018
Alcohol: 10.5 %
Acid: 5.9 g/l
Total SO2 (nothing added): 4 mg/l
Residual sugar: 0 g/l
Bottle size: 0.75 l