2Naturkinder - Melanie & Michael Voelker
Germany, Franconia, Kitzengen
Having now recovered from a little jet-lag (or rather, lorry-lag?) we can release two more wines from Melanie & Michael's 2019 vintage. These both tell a tale of how intense heat scorching the thin-skinned Bacchus led to major losses of their more aromatic varietal.
While the 2019 Bacchus Pet Nat tastes just as you'd hope, without the yields needed there was relatively low quantities made this year. The ‘19 Drei Freunde meanwhile has considerably less Bacchus than Michael would prefer, but despite his apprehension the results are dazzling. With skin-fermented Silvaner taking the lion's share, Drei Freunde '19 is pure, pretty and very delicious.
We discussed many wines with Michael when they first landed, the latest excerpt of our long conversation is below:
2019 Bacchus Pet Nat
The previous edition (2018) didn't have a vintage marked because I'd blended quite a bit of 2017 wine in, and you can only add 15% if you want to keep the vintage on the label. Originally I thought it was not a good idea so I went back to a single vintage but in hindsight, looking at the ageing potential; it actually was a good idea... because that blend developed really well!
But, 2019 is pure Bacchus again which you can taste, it's a bit fruitier than the previous vintage... under pressure. But otherwise it's the same Bacchus Pet Nat I've always made! The process never changes much, it's always about three quarters direct press and another quarter fermented on the skins for a week; that turns out to be a nice recipe for me. We bottled it a little later than usual, in October, before being hand disgorged in August 2020.
It's the same plot, I only have two left, and from next year that will just be one! 2019 was not great for the Bacchus yield, we had a lot of heat damage & sunburn, a lot of grapes died. So quantity is relatively small for the pet-nat, and that's also why the Drei Freunde '19 has considerably less Bacchus than previous years. I think that's the biggest difference out of all the 2019 wines.
Post-disgorging apron!
2019 Drei Freunde
Bacchus is very open to heat damage, the skins are super thin and the cells are pretty big, so they like bursting when it's too hot. We lost a lot in 2019 through the summer. So the Drei Freunde this year is dominated by skin fermented Silvaner. It's always nice to have fruity varieties for these wines, to have some pineapple or passionfruit flavours people can pick up pretty easily; and Bacchus was always very good for that. So perhaps it's lacking some of that easy, joyful fruitiness, and is a little more serious perhaps?
Silvaner has a little more tannic structure than Bacchus, so we certainly have a little more back bone to the wine this year. The Müller Thurgau is really just a little icing on the cake that adds a little herbiness to lift it. The three wines for the blend were fermented and aged separately but similarly: semi-carbonic maceration for a week (the Bacchus was whole bunch), before Müller Thurgau and Bacchus were pressed off to steel tanks for fermentation and ageing, with the Silvaner destined for big old barrels. We blended it and bottled in July 2020.
Now In Stock
SPARKLING
2019 - Landwein- Bacchus Pet Nat
100% Bacchus, no added sulphur
SKINS
2019 - Landwein - Drei Freunde
Silvaner (58%), Bacchus (28%), Müller-Thurgau (14%), no added sulphur
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