Steiner Silvaner 20-23

The Steiner Silvaner 20-23 is the first bottling from the Silvaner solera of the Schätzel estate in Nierstein, a dry white wine at 11.0 % vol. It relies on pull and structure rather than weight: purist, spare, wonderfully drinkable.

The vines stand on the Rothenberg in Nackenheim, ungrafted there, and in the grand cru site Hipping, where Kai Schätzel tends his own Schätzel clone on 30- to 40-year-old plantings, with small, thick-skinned berries. The slopes are steep to very steep, the soil is Rotliegend with its red-brown clay slate. The grapes prefer to hang in the shade. The family has farmed its parcels on the Roter Hang since 1350 and still works today in the wooden-cask cellar, over 800 years old.

Silvaner, blended as a solera from four vintages: 25 percent each of 2020 and 2021, 15 percent of 2022 and 35 percent of 2023. All work is done by hand. After harvest, the grapes are foot-trodden and cold-macerated for 36 hours. In the 1200-litre oak cask, alcoholic and malolactic fermentation proceed naturally, after which the wine ages under flor yeast in the solera system, averaging at least thirty months for this bottling.

On the nose, chamomile, intense like a fresh infusion, joined by blossom, anise, fennel greens and fennel seed, artichoke, mirabelle plum and apricot; behind that, allspice, cinnamon, clove, white pepper, sage, thyme and fresh mint over a bready note of sourdough bread crumble. The sip is rich and dense, full of acid drive and grip, with orange blossom and mandarin peel that linger in the cheeks for minutes.

The maiden wine of this solera. Kai Schätzel has run the family estate since 2008; a VDP member since 2016, Demeter-certified since 2023, with the Demeter logo on the label. His credo: "Lighter, longer and sometimes a little wilder."