Silvaner

Today, we travel to the Franconia region of Germany, one with a battle-lorn history, but we're here to drink wine from a once mucb-maligned grape that is going through a resurgence. If you think back to the 70s, assuming you are old enough to be able, you may recall this sickeningly sweet, somewhat syrupy liquid that was put forth as Liebfraumilch. It was popular then, much like pastel-colored leisure suits and probably deserving of as much adoration. Sadly for the primary grape in it, the reputation of Silvaner suffered.

We are here now though to understand the full potential of Silvaner as a serious wine grape. We're sitting at a picnic table along the River Main just outside of Wurtzburg. Not far from here, we can find the likes of the headquarters of BMW as well as Nuremberg, the site of the famous WWII war crimes trials. 

But, way before then, the Thirty Years War had significant battles in the area. Wine historians believe that it was then that Silvaner was transported from its natural home of Transylvania to its Bavarian home in Franconia.

The wine that is produced is white, fairly light, and normally fairly dry, but with good acidity (Silvaner also produces a sweet white wine, but very few producers have done so on a high quality basis). It's ideal for this region because its very rapid ripening aligns well with the short growing period here in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps.

When you see it in a bottle, you'll almost never mistake a bottle of Silvaner for anything else. The bocksbeutel design was made so that the bottle could not roll away if placed on the ground (such problems).

On the nose, we get an absolute explosion of somewhat ripe peach. The palate, much like yesterday's Trollinger is additionally loaded up with orange blossom and aromatic herbs.

Drink Silvaner nearly refrigerator cold with a mandarin orange salad or with dishes heavily seasoned with basil and ginger.