Ancestral – Apple & Redcurrant

Ancestral Apple and Red Currant by von Wiesen, naturally cloudy and tart-fresh

Ancestral Apple and Red Currant by von Wiesen is a fruit sparkling wine made from 85 percent apple and 15 percent red currant, bone-dry with 0.0 grams of residual sugar per liter. The yeast remains in the bottle, which is why it pours slightly cloudy into the glass.

Ancestral – Apple & Red Currant is the most acidic of the four fruit sparkling wines from von Wiesen, as hardly any other bottle with effervescence reaches 12 grams of acidity per liter. Red currant juice is added directly to the fermenting apple must before the crown cap is applied.

Why the yeast stays in the bottle

With the méthode ancestrale, the bottle is not opened again after fermentation, meaning everything the yeast left behind remains inside. A classic sparkling wine goes through the disgorgement process at this stage, where the frozen yeast plug is shot out of the bottle neck. For this, the bottles are riddled for weeks beforehand until everything has collected in the neck.

This step is omitted here, and there is no filtering either, resulting in a slightly cloudy sparkling wine in the glass, similar to naturally cloudy apple juice. Over time, a fine sediment settles at the bottom of the bottle, which stays there if you pour carefully. Those who include the last few centiliters get more yeast flavor in the glass, and some prefer exactly that.

Vibrant acidity and bright red fruit

The aroma starts with yellow apple, then the currant joins in, bringing that bright, almost sharp freshness familiar from picking them in July. Behind that is the yeasty note of fresh bread that the sparkling wine has carried with it from the bottle.

On the palate, there is no sweetness left; the 0.0 grams of residual sugar per liter is not just a formality here, and the acidity cuts through like a cold draft. That is precisely why it pairs better with fat and salt than almost any other beverage on the shelf. From the second sip on, the mouth gets used to it and craves more.

A fried chicken with crispy breading, fried calamari, and a classic Wiener Schnitzel receive from it the counter-balance that would otherwise be provided by the slice of lemon left carelessly on the edge of the plate. At 6.6 percent alcohol, a second glass won't lead to a heavy afternoon either.

A berry that yields little color

Red currants hang in bunches like tiny grapes; their skin is so thin that the seeds show through. They carry almost no sugar, but plenty of fruit acid, and they contain much less pigment than their black cousins. The bunches are picked by hand in July, as each individual berry would be too small to harvest. In the kitchen, they almost always end up in jelly, where sugar balances out their sharpness.

This is why the sparkling wine, with its 15 percent berry content, remains light and takes on a salmon color instead of turning dark red. The berries come from the region, including the Filsinger fruit orchards in Wiesloch. Those who prefer something fuller should try the Ancestral with Quince, while those who prefer something darker and more tart should try the Ancestral with Black Currant. You can find everything else with bubbles on our sparkling wine shelf.