Ancestral – Apple & Blackcurrant

Ancestral Apple and Blackcurrant from von Wiesen, tart and dark-berry-forward

Ancestral Apple and Blackcurrant from von Wiesen is a sparkling fruit wine made from 85 percent apple and 15 percent blackcurrant, with 6.9 percent alcohol and 9.5 grams of acidity per liter. Its carbonation is generated solely from the fruit sugar trapped under the crown cap.

Ancestral – Apple & Blackcurrant is the darkest of the four sparkling fruit wines from von Wiesen in Bensheim, because in addition to its color, the blackcurrant also provides plenty of tannins. It makes up 15 percent of the blend, while the remaining 85 percent comes from apples.

Dark berry, tart skin, and a salty counterpart

In the glass, it appears as a cloudy sparkling wine with a reddish shimmer, its scent beginning with yellow apple before shifting into darker tones. The blackcurrant imparts tart, almost earthy fruit notes, and in the background, there is that signature yeast note reminiscent of freshly baked bread.

With 0.0 grams of residual sugar per liter, any roundness that sweetness would typically provide is absent. Instead, the berry's tannins give the palate something to hold onto. The 9.5 grams of acidity per liter pull the whole experience into focus.

Salt and smoke are therefore its best companions. Smoked bacon, coarse country-style liver sausage, and braised venison shoulder meet a sparkling wine that holds its own against them, and even an aged cheese with a strong rind won't shake its composure.

The scent that comes from the leaves

Anyone who walks past a blackcurrant bush in summer and rubs a leaf between their fingers knows the smell before a single berry hits the basket. It resides in the leaves and buds just as much as in the fruit—resinous, a little catty, and instantly recognizable. Hardly any other shrub reveals its presence from two meters away.

In perfumery, these very buds are distilled because this scent cannot be obtained from any other plant. The berry itself has a thick, almost black skin containing the pigments, and along with them, tannins enter the glass. Red and black currants are botanically related, yet they taste completely different.

Why this bottle should be opened with care

A classic sparkling wine is calculated for a specific bottle pressure because the second fermentation is initiated with a precisely measured amount of sugar and yeast. With the méthode ancestrale, this calculation does not exist because the wine is bottled as a must that is still in the middle of its single fermentation.

How much sugar is left at that moment varies from batch to batch, and thus the pressure varies as well. The crown cap should therefore be loosened slowly, preferably on a chilled bottle, so that nothing spills over the edge. It comes out of the refrigerator much calmer than from a warm shelf.

The apples grow in local traditional meadow orchards, where various old high-stem trees stand side by side. There is room for birds and insects between the trees, and such meadows are becoming rarer. Alongside it are the lighter Ancestral with Redcurrant and the floral Ancestral with Hops; those who wish to browse further will find the rest of the bottles with perlage one shelf row over.