Konni & Evi - Blauer Silvaner 2019
We are drinking a bottle of Blauer Silvaner 2019 from Konni and Evi from Saale-Unstrut.
The German wine world is currently revolving around Wiesbaden and the VDP’s preview of the Grosse Gewächse. So I thought a bit of a counterpoint couldn’t hurt. Thematically, this bottle fits perfectly into last weekend, since there was plenty going on with wine in Saale-Unstrut as well. Konni and Evi opened up their vineyard and hosted a Silvaner festival with many guest winemakers. We would have loved to be there, but unfortunately, it just didn’t fit into our schedule. The plums had to come off the trees, otherwise, that would have been done by our colleague Worm and the birds, and there’s really only time to harvest on the weekend. Judging by what I saw on social media, we sadly missed a truly great party. But at least we joined in spirit with this 2019 Blauer Silvaner, which means blue Silvaner, in our glass. You don’t have to be Sherlock to fill in the blanks in S**l*-*nstr*t. But you would have to get through the quality wine approval process to write it on the bottle without gaps. And, of course, this central German Landwein was not seen once by the examiners.
The breeders in the 1960s, who selected Blauer Silvaner from Grünen Silvaner, probably looked very closely though. And you don’t have to be called Holmes to know that, unlike Grüner (green) Silvaner, this one has dark grape skins. Wiki says there are only about 20 hectares of this variety under cultivation. With skin contact, the dark color passes from skin to wine, and just like with Pinot Gris, the white wine becomes a little orange without being truly orange. Unfortunately, I haven’t found out how long this one spent on the skins. What I do know is that it was bottled at under 10% alcohol, because it says so on the back label. This indicates it was harvested relatively early, as 2019 was rather warm even in cool-climate Saale-Unstrut. It also says 10 mg per liter of sulfur was added. By the way, it also says “White Wine”, which makes me chuckle when I look into the glass.
Honestly, I had actually forgotten about this bottle and wasn’t sure, when digging it up, how well such a natural Silvaner would have held up over the years. The answer is: very well, to give away the ending right away. There’s a lot of homemade peach iced tea in the nose, the kind made from black tea and without sugar. A bit of kombucha, a touch of charming funk, some ethereal notes, and something vegetal are also present. What’s not there: volatile acidity, no strange tannins, no wild stink. I’m surprised, and I wonder what this was like when young. It’s very hard for me to ascribe any of the aromatic profile in this wine style to aging, but something must have happened over the years. If the bottle said 2023, I’d believe it immediately. There’s a bit of lychee, some rose petals, lots of citrus on the palate and the iced tea as well. It’s intriguing, complex, and at the same time delicious. More air makes the Silvaner more fragrant, more iced tea, something tonic, more ethereal notes, and now the tannin grips more firmly. Funnily enough, it reminds me of a completely different wine from a completely different part of the world. But the Kunoh Summer Snowflake felt quite similar to drink, at least in my memory. And when I read what I wrote about that one, it fits.
The second evening likewise starts with iced tea, though now with even less peach and fruit than before. There’s more structure, more woody grip on the nose, and I’m already bracing myself for the first sip to grip my tongue. But then, nothing. There’s no more grip in the drinking than there was the first night. The acidity is beautiful, clear and radiant, the tannin is soft and caressing, and you can still taste the peach. There’s also an interesting blend of grapefruit and cherries. This is really impressive. Not for every weekend, to be sure, after all, you need to be in the mood for a wine like this. But the same applies to Riesling for me. And when I am in the mood, it has to be exactly like this: with depth, with fruit, inner tension, and precisely this clarity. Each sip has to bring up the question of when the next one is coming. And that is exactly what this Silvaner does.