Stefan Vetter Sylvaner Himmelsluecke 2019
Type: White
Country: Germany
Region: Franken
Grape Variety: 100% Silvaner
Viticulture: Natural Wine | Biodynamic | Organic Farming
Climate: Continental climate with defined seasons and harsh winters
Terroir: 40-year-old vines grow on limestone and new red sandstone. The wine is sourced from a higher-altitude parcel, at the top of the hill of terraced vineyards, close to the forest’s edge
Winemaking: The grapes of the wine are pressed gently (and slowly giving them just a touch of skin contact), always ferments with native yeast, and only adds minimal sulfur at bottling if at all
Color: Pale yellow
Nose: Aromas of lime, apples and hay on the nose
Palate: Fresh and delicate, with intense mineral notes and great length
About the Winery:
Stefan Vetter is punk rock. He has done nothing that has even the slightest commercial logic to it. His old friend Andreas Adam (of the celebrated Mosel estate A.J. Adam) must shake his head, watching Stefan, like a wild hermit, run himself up into the terraced vineyards of Franconia. Yet from a scant few hectares of old terraced vineyards, Stefan is redefining what Sylvaner can be.
Stefan is at the forefront of the natural wine movement in Germany. As such, he farms both organically and biodynamically, working only old vines in steep, terraced sites. Pressing is done gently and can take four to six hours. The juice may see a short bit of skin contact, but for the most part, it is just moved directly into old barrels. Stefan has bought 300 and 600-litre barrels from Stockinger. During the elevage, the wine is topped off but that’s about it. The wines are bottled without fining or filtering.
