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.