Unbottled – Landbau Kraemer 3* Solera Silvaner

The winegrowing region in Franconia streches around the Main river, but there are also some vineyards along the Tauber. This is where the Oekologischer Landbau Kraemer vineyard is located. Stephan Kraemer started growing wine on the family’s farmland in 1983. Stephan makes unconventional natural wines, but his rosé already won me over completely

Three different vintages

The Kraemer Silvaner Solera comes from the series “Five colours of Silvaner”. It is a Cuvée of the 2018, 2019 and 2020 vintages in 60 % / 20 % / 20 % proportions. Additionally, there are parts of the blend coming from open vat fermentation as well as from a “Macération Carbonique”. The wine spends around 12 months on the yeast before Stephan bottles it without filtration or fining and only a minimal dose of sulphur.

What a great Silvaner!

You could argue how to classify this wine. Is it still a very natural white wine or does it already fall into the orange wine category. I tend to go with the latter. Yet, this is one of the best whites with phenols I have ever tasted! The wine has complex mineral notes and of course tannins from the skin contact. However, it still manages to stay very “drinkable”. The primary fruit of the Silvaner is there, but not at all pronounced which is a good thing and very refreshing.

Green asparagus

Apart from the wine, another aspect of this series is that I cook more. It is something I love to do, but nowadays rarely find the time for. Yet, for this dish my wife took over the kitchen and prepared a dish with Tagliatelle, green asparagus, almonds and gorgonzola. Besides cooking the asparagus in a cream / gorgonzola sauce, she roasted a few asparagus twigs in butter with crushed almond pieces. This indeed was the perfect pairing for the powerful Kraemer Silvaner.