Rosé Apple Brut – 2018

2018 Rosé Apfel Brut by Wiesen, aged and autumnally tart

2018 Rosé Apfel Brut by Wiesen is the older of the producer's two pink apple sparkling wines, bottled from the 2018 vintage and, like its younger sibling, aged on the lees for twenty-four months. Two additional years of bottle aging have made it calmer and tarter.

2018 Rosé Apfel Brut is the apple sparkling wine from Wiesen in Bensheim whose color and fruit are derived from spontaneously fermented redcurrant juice. At 8.7 percent alcohol, it is significantly lighter in structure than a sparkling wine made from grapes. It shares the same name as the 2020, but not the same age.

What two extra years in the bottle achieve

Both vintages spent twenty-four months on fine lees; their differences only emerge after disgorgement. From that point on, every year counts, as the carbon dioxide binds more closely to the liquid, and the initially vigorous bubbles become a narrow, steady stream.

At the same time, the young berry fruit loses its sharp edge—the loud acidity of the first year. In its place come notes that lean more towards compote and dried fruit, which are not yet present in a freshly disgorged sparkling wine.

Such a sparkling wine appears drier, even though its dosage has never been changed, because time pushes the sweetness to the background and brings the acidity to the fore. The younger 2020 Rosé, by contrast, shows the louder side of the same recipe.

Stewed redcurrants and a hint of autumn leaves

On the nose, apple must sits alongside stewed redcurrants, accompanied by a tart quality reminiscent of dry leaves in October. The color is more matte than the younger vintage, shifting towards onion skin.

It has traded the urgent drive of a young fruit sparkling wine for calm, making it less of a celebratory toast and more of a wine to sit and savor. The perlage is there, but it no longer bites, instead coating the tongue softly.

Fried blood sausage with apple slices finds a perfect counterpart in it, as do beetroot with horseradish, and a slice of ripe Tomme cheese practically requires it, as its acidity cuts through the fat. It handles hearty dishes better than the younger vintage.

Old standard trees and many varieties side by side

The apples grow in local meadow orchards, or "Streuobstwiesen"—tall-trunked trees beneath which the grass can still be mown or grazed. Such orchards have been disappearing for decades because they are difficult to harvest mechanically. Their yields are irregular and their maintenance labor-intensive, but they host a diversity that no plantation can replicate.

In one of these orchards, old varieties grow side by side that no supermarket carries anymore, and it is precisely this blend that makes the must more interesting. Each variety brings a different acidity, a different sweetness, and a different tannin content, and only together do they create a complete picture.

Fermentation occurs spontaneously in barriques of varying ages, using the yeasts already present on the skins. No cultured yeast sets the tone here; instead, the fermentation takes longer and is less predictable. Alongside it is the Rosé Pure x Johannisbeere made from grape wine, and in the Sparkling Wine section, you will find everything else under pressure.