Gunderloch: Nackenheim Silvaner x.t. Erste Lage 2018

Galloni über: Nackenheim Silvaner x.t. Erste Lage

-- Galloni: The “x.t.” here stands for “experimental,” referencing a variety of approaches, depending on vintage, that, as Hasselbach put it, “the young team here wanted to try out.” This will include intercellular fermentation and maceration on the skins, though in 2018 the aim was to preserve acidity while introducing some “structure” via pre-fermentative skin contact and new-ish oak. “It gets warm in our vineyards,” observed Hasselbach, “and we can’t let our Silvaner get fat and lose its sense of interplay [Spiel].” Hasselbach reported also having let the must oxidize until it was quite brown, which he believes enhanced subsequent stability. Currently, the wine is pungently reductive and displays notes of wood resin, but behind that emerge scents of seed-inflected pear and apple along with hay and milled grain. These then collectively dominate on a firm palate thankfully brimming with sheer juiciness, and whose buoyancy reflects the wine’s mere 11% alcohol. Smoky, stony and alkaline notes lend intrigue as well as invigoration to a finish that glows with piquancy while at the same time refreshing. Hopefully this will shed some of its reduction and its aromatic oak influence before too long, but that is not to suggest it lacks immediate appeal. (For more on these old vines and Johannes Hasselbach’s revival of Silvaner at his family’s estate, consult my tasting note on his 2016 Silvaner.) 90/100