Sylvaner "Zellberg" 2019 is a natural wine crafted by Julien Meyer, in the Alsace region in France. This oxidative white wine is made with Silvaner grapes, which is after fermentation is aged under flor for 4 years!
This wine offers exceptional complexity for the price. A mildly volatile nose with hints of caramel and melon. Toffee, wet stone, bruised apple, vanilla with v.a in the background. Amazing value for a complex wine that is even better the second day (tested with a vacuum wine pump)
Patrick Meyer runs Domain Meyer, the vineyards of which he inherited when his winemaking father Julien Meyer passed away. What's unusual to hear in the natural wine world, is Patrick decided to return the vineyard to conventional practices, using lots of pesticides and herbicides as he learnt this is exactly the way vineyards should be treated, having studied at wine school where this was the norm.
Farming sustainably was not the modern way back then... Obviously, he soon realised the issues he had caused with soil and vine health suffering, production of a far lesser quality and with the resulting wines of with no vibrancy or life. He quickly returned to his father's methods and his wines eventually blossomed into living wines.
Farming sustainably has given them more expression and depth... and his wines are highly sought after around the world. He produces 50,000 bottles a year with his 8 hectares of vines.
