ABOUT: The Nigl family has been farming in the fairytale-esque Krems Valley in Austria for 200 years. Just look up and there's the ruins of a castle from the 12th century. Martin Nigl began bottling the family wine in 1985 and Martin Jr. has joined his father in continuing the new tradition. Riesling and Gruner Veltliner are the most populous varieties, but they also have a few vines of Weissburgunder, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Gelber Muskateller. The Nigl's practice sustainable viticulture, eschewing herbicides and pesticides, even avoiding copper. They have a beautiful looking hotel and restaurant and they just went to the top of our winery visit wish-list.
TASTE: You may be familiar with the name Nigl but are you familiar with Gelber Muskateller? A mouthful of syllables but not to fear, it’s simply a synonym for Muscat Blanc a Petit Grains. So you are more familiar than you thought. That’s what I said to myself when I made the connection. This wine is sunshine-in-July bright, floral, but not overly, and “grapey”, which is something uttered somewhere by someone and I agree with. Deceptively dry and packed with aromas and flavors of peaches, oranges, elderflower, lychee, allspice, and a few taps of sea salt. Tasting really good in 2020. This is one of those wines that you can get philosophical about, or just drink with buttered popcorn on the couch watching your telenovelas. PAIR: Blue cheese, lasagna with bechamel sauce, Thai red curry with cauliflower, kung pao tofu, Rosemary thyme spiced almonds, and Kartoffelgulasch.
