Wittmann – Silvaner Natural – Natural wine from Rheinhessen
The Wittmann Silvaner Natural 2021 from the Wittmann winery is a natural wine, a lovely, not-too-wild vin naturel. A beautiful wine for all those who want to venture into trying a wine that is "only" permitted to be labeled as a country wine (Landwein) and discover new worlds of flavor. And it is worth it: the Wittmann Silvaner Riesling Natural is clean, with no off-notes or volatile acidity, so there is no need for courage to uncork the bottle.
The Silvaner Riesling Natural is slightly cloudy, a bit like cloudy apple juice; it smells like a warm yeast cake with ripe apple, raisins, and cinnamon; it practically begs to be drunk, and on the palate, it surprises with an elegant, fine tannin structure and well-integrated acidity, revealing quince, a hint of smoke, and delicate notes of wild herbs.
Unfortunately, the quantity of the 2021 vintage is very limited, so we can only supply 6 bottles per customer.
Weingut Wittmann – how this wine is made
The Silvaner and Riesling grapes grow on the gentle hills surrounding the Wittmann winery in Westhofen, Rheinhessen. The vineyards are farmed biodynamically. The renunciation of chemical-synthetic pesticides, mineral fertilizers, and herbicides, as well as the use of natural biodynamic preparations, is mandatory at the Wittmann winery. The entire viticulture and cellar management follow this ideal. For all other wines, hand-picking in the vineyard is followed by traditional processing and aging in the old Wittmann cellar vaults. Intensive vineyard care throughout the year, low yields, and consistent manual selection of the grapes form the basis for high wine quality here as well. The grapes were harvested ripe, but not overripe, so that it can show a lovely lightness with 10% ABV.
Silvaner natural – fermented on the skins
With this wine, Philipp Wittmann consciously takes a different path after the harvest: a wine that follows the ideal of an orange or natural wine. The grapes were destemmed by hand one by one and then fermented on the skins for 10 days. The free-run juice, i.e., the juice obtained without any pressing, was drawn off after fermentation and aged for a further 8 months in a half-stück barrel (600L). It was bottled unfiltered, unfined, and unsulfured—without any further intervention or additives. Throughout the entire maturation period, no sulfites were added.
Organic inspection body DE-ÖKO-022 – EU Agriculture