• In Alsace, we knew the wine route between Marlenheim and Thann.

    There is now a new stage: Igor Monge's garage in Strasbourg.

  • The oenologist learned about blending grape varieties in Bordeaux and decided to produce wine under the name Niderwing with the best Alsatian grape varieties in his garage.

  • On sale on its online site but also at a dozen wine merchants in the city, its dry white wines and its orange wines are successful.

    Its first vintage, in 2021, enabled it to produce nearly 4,500 bottles, including around 1,000 of orange wines.

At the bottom of his small garage, Igor Monge sublimates delicate beverages. And this, in the heart of Strasbourg. Dry wines obtained thanks to the art of blending learned in Bordeaux and produced with the best Alsatian grape varieties even if historically and culturally, the wines of Alsace are monovarietal. He thus produces dry white wines and orange wines from Pinot Gris, Riesling or even Gewurztraminer. Just like in the kitchen (his other passion), the oenologist “accommodates flavors”, makes them “reason”, tests, invents and works his wines obtained from organic grapes grown near Strasbourg.

Engineer, Igor Monge went through Burgundy, Bordeaux, New Zealand or Alsace to train but also through all the wine trades: from winemaking to trading, from artisanal to industrial production.

Now, he creates his own wines in town, under the name of Niderwind, in the back of a garage in Neudorf.

A simple box empty of any car and "oriented to the north for a question of temperature and hygrometry", specifies the oenologist.

The first “urban winery” in Strasbourg

There, he installed his barrels and his cellar and raises and bottles his production by hand. Only the vinification is still, for the moment, done on wine estates because there is no room for a press in this small room. "And then it's also the way to save some money" while waiting for better times, recognizes Igor Monge. His garage has become, in a way, the first “urban winery” in Strasbourg. A concept that is also beginning to develop in Paris, New York and Amsterdam.

As the oenologist does not own any vines, he buys his grapes from winegrowers in Dorlisheim, Wolxheim and Balbronn, whom he has known for fifteen years. All are located less than 30 km from Strasbourg. Just as he knows their vines and their production certified organic or biodynamic, without herbicides or synthetic products.

The idea came from "my desire to offer a different wine and to apply here this technique that I had practiced for a long time in Bordeaux", smiles Igor Monge. But his adventure almost collapsed from its launch. When he had just left his job in an Alsatian wine company and was about to launch his project, March 2020 arrived… and the coronavirus. Suddenly deprived of outlets and economic prospects, he made do with a simple garage. Sufficient, however, to install all its equipment. “It was either that or give up, and since I don't like having regrets, I took the plunge,” explains the oenologist.

Since then, he has been developing his small business while waiting for better winds. And he perfects his “city wines” and above all “exceptional” wines, he underlines, which only receive congratulations. Served on the tables of a dozen restaurants in Strasbourg, on sale on its online site but also at a dozen wine merchants in the city, its dry white wines and its orange wines are successful.

Its first vintage, in 2021, enabled it to produce nearly 4,500 bottles, including around 1,000 of orange wines, produced from the infusion of the skin of Gewurztraminer grapes, from which it gets its original color, enhanced with a hint of Riesling.

Of that one, there are none left.

For the 2022 vintage, Igor Monge hopes to release more than 6,500 bottles.

Next step, find a new location, bigger but above all "still in town", that's also the concept.

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  • Live better in the city

  • Wine

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  • Viticulture

  • Oenology

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