Cuvée Louis Brut Nature – 2020

Discover the Cuvée Louis – Organic Sekt from Andres & Mugler

With their Cuvée Louis Brut Nature 2020 organic Sekt, Andres & Mugler demonstrate their skill, showing that they can produce magnificent, distinctive cuvées with an unmistakable character and a long-lasting, fine perlage. This complex, white-pressed Burgundy blend of Petit Meunier, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Auxerrois is truly great German Sekt cinema. It offers aromas of yellow and red fruits, orange peel, and vanilla notes from the use of oak, while slightly smoked hazelnuts round out the aromatics. On the palate, the Cuvée Louis is powerful and voluminous, invigorating and complex. With its combination of four Burgundy varieties—a rarity in Germany—this consistently dry Andres & Mugler Sekt offers sparkling wine enjoyment of the highest caliber. The Andres & Mugler Cuvée Louis Brut Nature organic Sekt is crafted using traditional bottle fermentation.

Cuvée Louis Brut Nature – internal values

• 12.0% ABV
• 7.7 g/l acidity
• 2.1 g/l residual sugar

Organic Sekt – how the Brut Nature is made

The Burgundy grapes for this Andres & Mugler organic Sekt grow on mineral-rich soils in the Palatinate, in Ruppertsberg, Deidesheim, and Maikammer. The cool winds from the nearby Palatinate Forest ensure good acid structure in the early-harvested base wines, which is essential for quality Sekt.

The quality philosophy of the Andres & Mugler Sekt estate begins with careful soil cultivation and consistent green cover. Michael Andres and Steffen Mugler's work in the vineyard is pure craftsmanship, shaped by a deep love for biodynamics. The rhythm of nature plays a significant role in guiding their actions. For both, healthy soil, intact flora and fauna, and consequently a vigorous vine are prerequisites for a healthy circular economy. Accordingly, they harvest all biodynamically managed vineyard plots by hand to ensure the grapes reach the Sekt estate in Ruppertsberg undamaged.

Here, the Chardonnay and Auxerrois are gently pressed, because the gentler the pressing, the fewer tannins and waxes from the berry skins enter the must, resulting in a finer and longer-lasting perlage in the Sekt. The Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir are also gently pressed to prevent the release of red pigments from the skins, allowing white must to run off. Only about two-thirds of the juice present in the berries is pressed out.

In the cellar, Steffen Mugler and Michael Andres give their Sekts time. The grapes are allowed to ferment slowly and undergo malolactic fermentation, during which the malic acid in the wine converts into milder lactic acid, giving the Sekt base wine a special mouthfeel and creaminess. The Chardonnay portion is aged in barriques, which lends the cuvée even more complexity. Compared to the Cuvée Elena, the Cuvée Louis is the more red-wine-influenced cuvée.

The following year, the Cuvée Louis is bottled and the *tirage* is added to trigger the second fermentation in the bottle. It is then allowed to rest and mature on the fine lees for another year, being regularly riddled and turned increasingly upside down until, in the end, the yeast plug is removed by hand during disgorgement. The Andres & Mugler organic Sekt Cuvée Louis Brut Nature then rests in the bottle without the addition of any dosage until, as Steffen emphasizes, "it is ready when it comes out."

Andres & Mugler – the Sekt makers

The Andres & Mugler Sekt estate in Ruppertsberg was founded in 1989 by the two friends and Palatinate winemakers Michael Andres and Steffen Mugler. In the first few years, base wines were purchased and turned into Sekt, but since 1993, only grapes from their own cultivation have been used. Across a total of 17 hectares (7 ha for Michael and 10 ha for Steffen), the estate practices biodynamic viticulture, growing Riesling and white Burgundy varieties such as Pinot Blanc, Auxerrois, and Chardonnay, as well as Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir in the best vineyard sites of the Palatinate. From these grapes, traditional bottle-fermented German Sekt with an unmistakable, elegant style is born. Sparkling wine from Germany at the highest level and in organic quality. In 2019, two Sekts were rated as very good at the Meininger German Sekt Awards for the first time, followed in 2021 by an award from Eichelmann's *Deutschland Weine* as the best Sekt collection of 2021. Remarkable. The Andres & Mugler Sekt estate is a member of "die Sektmacher," the association of traditional Sekt producers.

Organic inspection body DE-ÖKO-039 – German Agriculture