The 2019 Silvaner trocken is pure, refined and chalky on the fresh, lemon-scented nose. Silky, pure and fresh on the vital and fruity palate, this is a juicy, refined and elegant Sylvaner with stimulating salinity on the finish. Very delicate. Tasted in Bremen, April 2020.

Refreshing, featuring notes of sea salt that frame the core of apple and pear flavors, with chamomile tea details lingering in the background. Piercing acidity cuts through and gives this intensity and focus. A great starter for seafood. Drink now through 2024. 1,300 cases made.??–AZ??Region: Germany / Rheinhessen Select to Add

While the rather green flavors in an already 12.5% alcohol and quite noticeably low acid basic Wittmann 2011 Silvaner trocken – from vines in the Aulerde – point to the limitations of a vintage in which he felt that these grape had to be picked slightly ahead of optimum phenolic evolution, there is an attractively creamy feel and admirable persistence to its chervil-tinged apple, turnip, and almond melange. I would plan on enjoying it soon. A new receiving line incorporating a vibrating sorting table is among the latest manifestations of Philipp Wittmann’s continuing drive to render what are already some of the most sought-after wines in Germany steadily better. Any fear that Riesling here might suffer from deficient vivacity or juiciness in 2011 was quickly banished once I began tasting. The last fruit wasn’t picked this year in Morstein until October 17, yet retained a formidable 8.5 grams of acidity, by which point raisined fruit had to be sorted-out. Importer: Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700

Also recommended, but no tasting note given. Philipp Wittmann is always happy when (as is usually the case for his musts) fermentations go quickly, as he considers this ideal for capturing fruit. But his 2010s were having none of that plan! In the end, the active fermentative time and supplemental stays on their lees thereafter no doubt helped compensate for high acids and otherwise enrich what are still a relatively lean, not to mention bright bunch. “I was very concerned to monitor levels of malic acid,” says Wittmann, one of the minority to tell me they did this, whereas I would have thought this critical to any grower’s understanding of what was happening in 2010. “At the beginning, we had 2-to-1 malic-to-tartaric in Riesling, but by the time we finished harvesting they were roughly at parity.” He reports picking the best Riesling between around October 20-26, and scrupulously consigning any even the least bit botrytized berries to Auslese (if noble and from Morstein or Brunnenhauschen) or to oblivion, because they would have enhanced not just bitterness but also acidity in the dry wines. Importer: Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700