Nigl, Grüner Veltliner Freiheit (2019) 750mL

Spectator – 92pts
This wine was sourced from 3 vineyards in Krems and is picked earlier than the grapes in Senftenberg, where Martin Nigl’s other vineyards and winery are located. Raised in stainless steel and bottled at night when the wine is cold, to preserve freshness. Freiheit shows pear and lime peel notes as well as floral and grassy components, with a clean mineral finish.

Weingut Nigl, tucked deep in the Krems Valley on the edge of the Senftenberg mountain, often evokes feelings that one has travelled back to medieval times; the wines Martin Nigl creates are as ethereal as the vine lands that they come from. These terroirs of primary rock, or ‘gneiss,’ planted to riesling and grüner veltliner, have much more in common with the Wachau than with the rest of the Kremstal. Martin practices sustainable farming. In the cellar, Nigl works almost exclusively in stainless steel, never de-stems, uses only ambient yeasts, settles musts by gravity only, racks twice and never fines before bottling. The resulting wines are some of the most crystalline, transcendent bottlings in the portfolio.