Souvignier Gris Mitterberg IGT 2021 Thomas Niedermayr

Among the PIWI grape varieties in the Niedermayr range, Souvignier Gris is the one Thomas himself describes as the most neutral – and he means it as a compliment. Selected in 1983 at the Viticulture Institute in Freiburg from a cross between Seyval Blanc and Zähringer, it has pinkish skin and magenta-rust colored bunches that grow in Appiano on deep clay-limestone and white dolomitic soils at 270-400 meters. It was Rudolf Niedermayr who planted the first Souvignier Gris vines in 2006 – a pioneer here too, as with Solaris. Its neutrality is its strength: in the glass, it does not impose pronounced aromatic characteristics but lets the terroir speak – fine citrus acidity, delicate tannins, mineral and saline structure, the dolomitic signature of the mountain. Soft pressing of whole grapes, spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts, aging in neutral oak barrels and steel. Unfiltered.