Riesling Sparkling Wine Brut – 2023

Organic Riesling Sekt Brut 2023 from the winemaker duo Andres & Mugler

The Organic Riesling Sekt Brut 2023 is a suitable introduction to the sparkling wine world of the Andres & Mugler Sektmanufaktur from the Palatinate. This fine-bubbled Riesling sparkling wine is straightforward and precise, impressing with fresh citrus aromas and a long-lasting perlage. It offers notes of pome fruit such as yellow apple and stone fruit like ripe peach, with light hints of brioche rounding off the bouquet. On the palate, this organic sparkling wine reveals a tingling lightness, typical tropical red sandstone minerality that gives away its origin, and an elegant structure. The Andres & Mugler Organic Riesling Sekt is produced using the traditional method of bottle fermentation.

Riesling Brut – inner values

• 12.0% ABV
• 8.0 g/l acidity
• 5.8 g/l residual sugar

Organic Sparkling Wine – how the Riesling Brut is made

The Riesling grapes for this Andres Mugler organic sparkling wine grow on mineral-rich red sandstone soils in the Palatinate. These soils strip the Riesling of sharp acidity and round it off with a ripe fruit profile. The cool winds from the nearby Palatinate Forest ensure good acid structure in the early-harvested base wines, which is essential for high-quality sparkling wine.

The quality philosophy of the Andres Mugler Sektmanufaktur begins with careful soil cultivation and consistent cover cropping. Michael Andres and Steffen Mugler's work in the vineyard is pure craftsmanship, shaped by a great love for biodynamics. The rhythm of nature plays a major role in guiding their actions. For both of them, healthy soil, intact flora and fauna, and consequently a vigorous vine are the prerequisites for a healthy circular economy. They hand-pick all biodynamically cultivated vineyard sites to ensure the grapes reach the winery in Ruppertsberg undamaged.

Here, the Riesling grapes are gently pressed, because the gentler the pressing, the fewer tannins and waxes from the berry skins end up in the must, resulting in a finer and longer-lasting perlage in the final sparkling wine. Only about two-thirds of the juice present in the berries is extracted.

In the cellar, Steffen Mugler and Michael Andres give their sparkling wines time. The Riesling grapes are allowed to ferment slowly and undergo malolactic fermentation, during which the malic acid in the wine is converted into the milder lactic acid, giving the sparkling wine base a special mouthfeel and creaminess.

The following year, the Riesling is bottled and the "liqueur de tirage" is added to initiate the secondary fermentation in the bottle. The dosage is between 3 and 5g/l. It is then left to rest and mature on the fine lees for another year, regularly riddled and the bottles gradually turned upside down until the yeast plug is removed by hand during disgorgement; the Andres Mugler Riesling Sekt then rests in the bottle for as long as it takes until "it is good when it comes out," as Steffen emphasizes.

Andres & Mugler – the Sekt producers

The Andres & Mugler Sektmanufaktur 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 sparkling wine, but since 1993, only estate-grown grapes have been used. Across a total of 17 hectares (7 ha for Michael and 10 ha for Steffen), the winery 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. These grapes are transformed via traditional bottle fermentation into German sparkling wine with an unmistakable, elegant style. Sparkling wine from Germany at the highest level and in organic quality. In 2019, two of their sparkling wines were rated as "very good" at the Meininger German Sekt Awards, followed in 2021 by the distinction from Eichelmann's *Deutschlands Weine* as the best sparkling wine collection of 2021. Remarkable. The Andres & Mugler winery is a member of "die Sektmacher," the association of traditional sparkling wine producers.

Organic control body DE-ÖKO-039 – German Agriculture