2022 Gruner Silvaner Trocken
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Tasting notes
Keller's fascinatingly clear, mineral 2022 Sylvaner vom Austernfels is one of the greatest of its kind in the German- and French-speaking world. It grows in Neubamberger Heerkretz, which was still called Schlossberg until 1971, and lies just below the church, which stands on the highest point. The volcanic soil of this site, which is rhyolite, with fossilized oysters from the Mainz Basin on top, makes it easy to mistake this Rhine-Hessian wine for one from the Nahe. Slightly reductive on the nose (hazelnut, light fruit, honeydew melon, flowers), it is a dense, firm, racy, enormously mineral and persistently salty vin de terroir with great complexity, elegance and tension on the palate. A great, grippy terroir wine that doesn't need the grape variety to be named, that's how much the site shines through here. 13% alcohol.
Critic scores
Average Score
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
Bottled. Sylvaner is often called Grüner Silvaner when it is picked earlier in the harvest. 40-year-old vines in Steingrube. A little bit smoky/mineral and smells of grainy pears, though I realise you cannot smell graininess. Lightly herbal. Tastes not quite dry thanks to the depth of fruit but it is bone dry. A great vintage for this variety, says Klaus Peter Keller. Salty intensity, mouth-watering and long. VGV (JH)
About the producer
Based in the Rheinhessen, Keller is one of the finest Riesling producers in the world, and has set the benchmark for German Pinot Noir.