Andi Weigand

Andi Weigand cultivates 10 hectares of vines around the historic town of Iphofen in the Franconian countryside. Alongside a vibrant and ever-shifting community of local and international cellarhands, Andi has been crafting his delicious and ultra well-made wines here since 2018. 

Andi’s holdings are primarily planted to silvaner and müller-thurgau, with pinot noir, scheurebe, pinot blanc, riesling and chardonnay also planted. The average age of the vines is 40 years, with the oldest vines being a little over 60 years old. 

In addition to the vine age, Andi attributes much of his wines’ character to the Keuper soils found in the area – a sort of friable slate which allows the grapes to develop plenty of flavour in earlier stages of ripeness. Andi and his team pick all of the grapes by hand, generally a little earlier in the season, and with great attention to detail regarding fruit selection. 

A pneumatic press is used in addition to an 80-year-old basket press. Andi uses two cellars, one from 1664 with traditional Stück and Halbstück large-format barrels from local producers, plus another smaller cellar with amphoras and barriques. All of the wines are kept on full lees for at least 10 months after fermentation, with some of the wines seeing extended periods of elevage of up to 24 months. Andi believes this period of lees contact is essential to the stability of his wines.

These are brilliant and pristine wines which speak very much of place and have been vinified in a totally correct and precise way. They tend to be a touch leaner and lighter but are concentrated and layered, and all possess the direct, lifted and thrilling structure of wines grown on limestone-rich soils.

Iphofen, Germany

 

Information on previous wines

  • 2023 A direct-press blend of bacchus, müller thurgau, scheurebe and silvaner. Light, fruity, youthful and classical.

  • 2023 Müller-Thurgau from 70-year-old vines. Pressed on an old basket press from 1920 and fermented in 60-year-old oak barrels.

  • 2022 Grown on a slope in Iphofen called Sparrnbach which was re-cultivated by Andi 5 years ago. The soil here is very stony with a mixture of shelly limestone and Keuper. Basket-pressed and fermented in small barrels, and kept on lees for 20 months.

  • 2023 Bacchus and Müller-Thurgau, de-stemmed and macerated for 9 months in amphora.

  • 2023 Pinot noir from a vineyard on a slope called Kronsberg. Part destemmed and part whole-bunch, macerated for 9 months in amphora.

  • 2023 Silvaner from 40-year-old vines, direct-pressed and fermented in old barrels. 9 months of elevage on lees. Silvaner is autochthonous to the area and here expresses the Keuper soils with great clarity.

  • 2023 A blend of müller-thurgau, scheurebe, riesling and silvaner, with primary fermentation finishing in bottle, undisgorged. Harmonious, with balanced fruit, herbal character and acidity from the various varieties.

  • 2023 From a variety first cultivated in Germany in 1916 — a cross between riesling and an unknown wild variety, with an aromatic expression of fruit. The 2023 season was optimal for growing the variety, which can often lose its acidity later in the season.