How we made it
When most vineyards were struggling with all the downey mildew pressure in 2021 the Schwarzriesling (Pinot Meunier) vineyard was shining. Time for a new Bat-Nat! The grapes were destemmed, crushed and macerated for 12h before being pressed. After that the juice fermented slowly and peacefully for a couple of weeks before it was bottled with 9g/l of residual sugar to finish fermentation in the bottle. Disgorged warmly and by hand the April after.
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: September 2021
Skin-contact for 12h
Bottled: October 2021
Disgorged: April 2022
Alcohol: 10.5 %
Acid: 5.8 g/l
Residual sugar: 0 g/l
Pressure: 2.3 bar
Total SO2: 4 mg/l
Bottle size: 0.75 l
Something to watch