“This is an impressive Silvaner with Burgundian characteristics.” - The Wine Advocate, 93+ points

We don’t have a Sancerre on our list, but don’t panic, we do have three Silvaners from the Rheinhessen! That either tells you that we have a terrible head for business, or that we can’t choose between them, because they are both so good (although I realise those two premises aren’t mutually exclusive).

This is the cheaper of the two, which doesn’t mean it’s cheap, in fact it’s pretty expensive for a Silvaner, but that’s only because Silvaners don’t tend to be expensive. Are you still there? I’m not sure I am. The point is (there’s a point?), this is roughly the same price as a good white Burgundy, so it would be an act of peculiar self-sabotage to price it alongside a top Cote d’Or if it weren’t a bit special. Well, special it most certainly is and ! It has the kind of beguiling aromas that you might find in a Puligny-Montrachet from Domaine Leflaive, with a wisp of flinty reduction, a tumble of citrus fruits, a distinct impression of cool limestone and even a hint of oyster shell, or maybe I’m just imagining what it would taste like with one. It’s beautifully delineated with perfectly-pitched acidity, that is perky, yet not intrusive. 13% alc. Drink now-2040

Press review:

The Wine Advocate: “From old vines planted in 1964 and 1968 on the yellow limestone plateau above the ‘Grauer Stein’, Saalwächter's 2022 Silvaner ‘Steinkante’ opens with a pure, intense and nicely reductive bouquet with flinty notes combined with clear, ripe and open fruit intertwined with herbal as well as chalky notes. Very elegant and round on the palate, this medium to full-bodied Sylvaner develops an intense, mineral and layered character with a long, enormously saline finish with fine, stimulating phenolic grip. This is an impressive Silvaner with Burgundian characteristics. Drink now-2045.” 93+ points