How we made it
When most vineyards were struggling with all the downey mildew pressure in 2021 the Schwarzriesling (Pinot Meunier) vineyard was shining. The perfectly healthy bunches were covered with a layer of destemmed and crushed berries and left for about a week for a classic semi-carbonic maceration. After being pressed the juice finished fermentation in a stainless steel tank and rested on the full lees until it was racked and bottled in April 2022.
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: Kitzingen
Soil: Shell limestone
Harvest: September 2021
Semi-carbonic maceration for seven days, malolactic fermentation and aging on the lees in steel
Bottled: April 2022
Alcohol: 11 %
Acid: 5.4 g/l
Total SO2 (nothing added): 4 mg/l
Residual sugar: 0 g/l
Bottle size: 0.75 l
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