James Suckling 100
"This great dry riesling masterpiece is breathtakingly cool and delicate, pristine and precise, yet is rippling with peach, grapefruit and fresh-herb aromas. And the mineral intensity is right off the scale! Even after youve taken all this in, the wine continues to pull you ever further into its depths. Reminiscent of the astonishing 2001 vintage thats still on top form today. Drink or hold. Screw cap."

The Wine
The steep terraces, which are only separated from the Ried Pellingen by a wall, with their mica slate floor form the ideal conditions for growing Riesling. This combination gives the Riesling the dark, cool minaralik as well as the typical vineyard peach taste a lot of substance and a long life. The Riesling Privat comes from this location.

The Estate
Weingut Nigl, tucked deep in the Krems Valley on the edge of the Senftenberg mountain, often evokes feelings that one has traveled back to medieval times; the wines Martin Nigl creates are as ethereal as the vine lands that they come from. Martin Nigl is a first-generation winemaker, beginning in 1985 after convincing his family to keep the fruit from their small quantity of vines and bottle it themselves rather than selling it to the local co-op. The history with grape-growing is not nearly as recent though; the Nigl family has been farming here for over 200 years. Martin Jr. recently joined his father at the domaine and they are now working side by side in the vines and cellar.

The ruins of the Senftenberg castle, erected in 1197, are perched above the terraced vineyards Hchacker, Pellingen, Piri, and Kirchenberg. These terroirs of primary rock, or gneiss, planted to Riesling and Grner Veltliner, have much more in common with the Wachau than with the rest of the Kremstal. In fact, the border between the Wachau, to the west is political, and the geology is much more similar to the famous sites in that region. There is an important climactic difference in the two regions. Due to the influence of the forested mountains, Senftenberg experiences cooler nights than the Wachau and therefore larger diurnal swings in temperature, drawing out the ripening season and contributing spiciness and depth to the wines.

The collection of vineyards on the terraces of Senftenbergs southwest facing slope is outstanding: Hchacker on the top terraces, Pellingen directly below, the Piri, and 4 small terraces called the Kirchenberg next to the winery. Nigl also has vineyards in the village of Krems, mostly planted to Grner Veltliner including some very old vines, 75 years in age, planted on loess soils that contribute more opulent fruit and a creamier texture.

Martin practices sustainable farming, never using herbicides or insecticides, plants cover crops of legumes and herbs, and avoids copper, a mainstay in the biodynamic arsenal, but which he considers detrimental to his vines vitality, and harmful to the soil.

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.