Weingut Hans Wirsching "Iphofer Kalb" Silvaner Trocken 2022

Weingut Hans Wirsching, situated in the picturesque medieval town of Iphofen in Franconia, an hour and a half east of Frankfurt, is one of the top producers of Silvaner and Scheurebe in Germany. Now in its 14th generation, the Wirsching family, led by Andrea Wirsching, focuses on Silvaner (40%), the signature grape of the Franconian wine area. 20% of their vineyards are planted with Riesling, the classical German grape, and 7% with Scheurebe, a fruity, aromatic grape variety that first gained prominence in the 1950s. The balance is planted to white Pinot varieties, with a small percentage of red grapes as well.

The Wirsching estate dates to 1630, when Hans Wirsching donated a vineyard to the Abbey at Ebrach. Over the next several centuries, the Wirschings continued their love for, and involvement in, the business of agriculture and wine growing. In the late 19th century, the family almost gave up winemaking as the phylloxera louse devastated the European wine industry. It was a young Hans Wirsching who, in 1918 at age 23 and returning from World War I, made the decision to put all his energy into restoring the vineyards. He not only restarted the winery, but also began the painstaking process of replanting the vineyards with American rootstock. 

The soils in this part of Franconia consist largely of “Keuper” or Jurassic Clay, a sediment stone from 220 million years ago, when dinosaurs walked through what was then swamps. Layers of Gypsum within that stone add an alkaloid which give the wines low to moderate acidity. The wines of Iphofen are full bodied with hints of herbaceous aromas and elegant fruit components.