From eight or nine parcels and different soils (granite, gravel, clay), and averaging 30- to 75-year-old vines, the steel-fermented 2014 Les Vieilles Vignes de Sylvaner displays noble floral notes along with ripe pear aromas on the very clear and appealing nose. Highly elegant and intense on the palate, this full-bodied Sylvaner has a delicate purity, stimulating freshness, great balance and good length. Delicious. The finish is very good, fresh and shows a real character. The 2014 fermented until March and underwent, like all of the wines since 10 years -- the second (malolactic) fermentation. Racked in April and bottled in May, this is an excellent proof that there is reason to fear the malo when only the grapes are ripe and not much malic acidity is left to be converted into lactic acid. Although Sylvaner is widely considered as a huge yielding grape, Ostertag never green-harvests his old vines Sylvaner which never yield more than 60hl/ha due to short-pruning, mechanic ploughing, and biodynamic farming. The grapes are hand-picked (in 40 kg boxes), the whole bunches are gently and slowly pressed, and the wine is aged on its lees before being bottled in the following spring.

Pear and apple pungently laced with sage mark the nose and glossy, generous palate of Ostertag’s 2009 Sylvaner Vieilles Vignes, which finishes with welcome hints of chalk and saliva-inducing salt, as well as a surprising sense of delicacy given its softness and the proclivities of the vintage. Plan on enjoying it over the next couple of years. (Typically, I missed out on tasting the 2008 rendition of this wine, which sells out quickly both at home and abroad. The corresponding, creamy 2009 Pinot Blanc adeptly-integrated its barrique component but finished a bit weakly.) Andre Ostertag picked most of his 2008s in the second week of October – relatively early for that vintage – and only 8-10 days behind the period during which the bulk of his 2009s were brought in. “The central problem with 2009,” observes Ostertag, “was to achieve balanced dryness in the finished wines.” (He would exempt Gewurztraminer from that comment, because he always finishes it unapologetically sweet; though here too, as my tasting notes demonstrate, something to counterbalance residual sugar was wanting.) Ostertag calls 2008 “a classic vintage, in the manner of the 1980s (decade),” and on reflection came up with the vintage analogy that had most struck me, namely to 1988.Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524