Apple Sparkling Wine Hauxapfel

Manufaktur Jörg Geiger – Hauxapfel Sparkling Apple Wine

The Hauxapfel Sparkling Apple Wine from the Manufaktur Jörg Geiger is a single-varietal sparkling wine with a fine perlage and a robust aroma of ripe apples, subtle notes of wood, paired with vanilla and caramel, created using the traditional bottle fermentation method. It displays a pale straw yellow in the glass with golden reflections and is complex and multi-layered. The invigorating acidity of the apple combined with well-integrated tannin notes results in a round and creamy character with a long, fresh apple finish and hints of fresh pine needles. As such, the Hauxapfel Sparkling Apple Wine makes for a pleasant, dry aperitif and also pairs excellently with fried goose or duck liver with apple or pear chutney, cured salmon with rösti, or roast beef with herb sour cream.

Hauxapfel Sparkling Apple Wine – how it is made

The Hauxapfel is an old apple variety native to the meadow orchards of the Swabian Alps. It was cultivated around 1920 by Andreas Haux from Göppingen from the seeds of the Roter Trierer Weinapfel. After the harvest, the fruit at the Manufaktur Jörg Geiger is first left to rest in closed boxes, where the ripening gas ethylene concentrates and can activate the enzymes. Only then are the Haux apples gently pressed and cold-fermented in stainless steel tanks. A portion of the resulting apple wine is stored in new barrique barrels, which gives the Hauxapfel sparkling apple wine even more structure and elegance.

Traditional bottle fermentation – at Manufaktur Jörg Geiger

The second fermentation, which lasts between 12 and 16 weeks, takes place in the bottle. The Hauxapfel sparkling wine then remains on the lees in the bottle for at least 15 months to mature. Aromas of wine and yeast interact, creating complexity. Only at the very end of the maturation period are the bottles, which have been stored horizontally until then, shaken daily and positioned slightly steeper each time until, after 43 turns, the yeast plug has settled in the neck of the bottle. During disgorgement, the final step before the sparkling apple wine can be sold, the yeast plug is removed from the bottle.