2023 Weingut Battenfeld Spanier, Grüner Sylvaner, Reserve, Rheinhessen, Germany.
I really enjoyed this unique pale straw/gold Reserve Sylvaner from Battenfeld Spanier with its bright and tangy dry palate and mineral focus, along with the crisp layers of citrus and stone fruits, as well as the fine bitter and salty quality here that excites the taste buds. The Grüner Sylvaner grape (Green Sylvaner as it’s called in the southern Rheinhessen) is noted for being super zesty and herbaceous with bright acidity that has a core of lime, kiwi, white peach and quince, as this one shows, as well as bitter almond, mountain herbs, wet stone, wild mint and subtle floral details. The grape is maybe more common to most people from Alsace, but is widely planted in Germany, especially in the Franken region, where it has well deserved VDP Cru sites and the funny Bocksbeutel bottles, and Rheinhessen regions, plus it can be seen in Alto Adige, where it is a rarity. This one, along with Rudolf May in Franken, and Keller’s, also from the Rheinhessen are my favorite German versions, with each one having very individual personalities. This 2023 Battenfeld Spanier, made by H.O. Spanier and Carolin Spanier-Gillot, is fermented and raised exclusively in stainless steel vat and wild yeast fermented to be Trocken in style. The vines, from very old rootstocks, are planted on calcarious limestone and loamy löss soils, which adds to its distinctive terroir influence and chalky detail.
The highly regarded Battenfield-Spanier, as mentioned in my prior reviews, is co-owned by Carolin Spanier-Gillot, of Kühling-Gillot, and her husband H.O. Spanier, who founded the estate in 1991 just after finishing school with a prime focus on Riesling, though they do other interesting things, like this Sylvaner. They are located in the Rheinhessen. Spanier understood the greatness inherent to this site, early on, with its same limestone base that powers the Frauenberg also runs through to Mölsheim, and adds to the power and complexity of the wines here. The Schwarzer Herrgott vineyard of Mölsheim forms the border between the Rheinhessen and the Pfalz regions and is among the oldest officially documented sites. It has been classified as a Große Lage since 2007, and H.O. says it produces deep and powerful wines with a dark, saline character, which is deep in the soul of wines here. Spanier says that the vineyards in Mölsheim are higher than (most) those in Rheinhessen, and as such are cooler with winds from the Donnersberg massif giving the wines here a lovely tension and sublime balance. The winery really concentrates on allowing the vineyards, which are farmed all organic with biodynamic practices, do the work and try their best to be non interventionists in the cellar, all within reason, to produce pure terroir expressions in the bottle, again, as this Sylvaner displays with sublime transparency.
($26 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive