Two Bottles Weigand
We drink two bottles from Andi Weigand from Iphofen: a White and a Rosé, each from 2020.
Already when we had wine from Andi Weigand in the glass the last time, it was foreseeable in which direction Andi would develop. In the meantime, his natural wine line has grown and there is even wine from amphorae and qvevri. The labels have also changed and are now kept simple in curved font throughout the complete natural line. On the plus side, there’s a lot of recognition value there. I’m not really warming up to it though. For me, the highlight of Andi Weigand’s design was when he put stickers over the classic labels and filled them as Landwein. I think that was 2018 and I still like those labels very much. Anyway. Here it should be primarily about content. As I said, Andi has been making Natural in Franconia, more precisely in Iphofen, for several years now. The vineyards, where the vines grow on Keuper soil, are managed organically. The two wines, the White and the Rosé, are something like the introduction to the collection. The White is a cuvée of Silvaner, Bacchus, Müller-Thurgau and Scheurebe, typical Franconian grape varieties. It is fermented spontaneously in wood and then bottled after 9 months on the lees. This is exactly what happens to the Rosé, a cuvée of Pinot Noir, Domina and Dornfelder. The broken off cork on the picture is totally my fault this time. Too obliquely set and simply levered off. But the broken off rest was fortunately then very easy to pull out of the neck in one piece.
The White starts funky and wild in the nose. Of course, this is not unexpected, but at the same time it is super fresh and exciting. Primarily herbal is the scent, the fruit is not really definable. Despite all the funk, the wine is very clean and clear on the tongue. Somehow the acidity is reminiscent of exotic fruit and the very subtle tannin note fits in nicely. Then with a bit of air comes quite gentle yellow and ripe fruit. This is really the perfect introduction to Natural. Very juicy and fresh. For me, this is Saufwein.
And even a night in the refrigerator he puts away quite easily. Briefly, one thinks that the acidity has become a bit too aggressive, but this disappears again immediately with air and is then as fun as on the first evening. There’s not much left in the bottle anyway.
The rosé is fresh and yeasty at the same time. There are berries, other red fruit and somehow it also seems tart. There is decent acidity in the wine and it brings the same freshness that the White already had. That combined with the 11% alcohol makes for a refreshingly light companion on the balcony. There’s grapefruit, something herbal and it feels like it has less tannin than its white counterpart. And the funk is clearly evident here as well, but so subtle that I think you can bring the wine somewhere and open it up and it will be quickly empty. With more air, cranberries and an idea of red iced tea come to the nose with a little bit of hibiscus. I like how juicy this is and how straightforward it drinks. Summer wine.