Can help out on the price ... bought this one directly from Ruck in Iphofen, early 2011, 18EUR/bottle. Ruck is in the same quality/price league as other highly-regarded Franconian winemakers (I'm not going to promote anyone here, as I like wine but don't like to trade it, so no names. Would be happy to organize a "Franconian Tasting" if a place and enough interested people can be found), all of them will sell their "ordinary" dry Silvaners/Rieslings starting under 10EUR per bottle and their GG Spaetlese for ~20..30EUR, directly at the vinery. Since 2006, prices (in EUR) have doubled; with GBP/EUR parity, tripled in GBP terms...
But then, purchasing those wines outside Franconia / from elsewhere than directly at the producer is rather difficult. In addition to that, if the wine and/or the year are on the good side, they tend to sell out at maker within less than a year of being bottled. After which, well, let me call them "illiquid liquid assets".
This pretty much applies to most Franconian wines/winemakers; even the more-renowned ones are family businesses and they want to sell out; they don't age their wines except what they keep for their own consumption.
Btw, the "yeasty apple" usually goes away from this wine after about three, four years; from my experience, it's typical for a "new" Silvaner and encountering it I see it as the sign of a too-young one, but tastes vary.
(Really enjoyed reading your blog; there's not many people that know about German wines in the UK, much less so about Franconian ones)
Can help out on the price ...
Can help out on the price ... bought this one directly from Ruck in Iphofen, early 2011, 18EUR/bottle. Ruck is in the same quality/price league as other highly-regarded Franconian winemakers (I'm not going to promote anyone here, as I like wine but don't like to trade it, so no names. Would be happy to organize a "Franconian Tasting" if a place and enough interested people can be found), all of them will sell their "ordinary" dry Silvaners/Rieslings starting under 10EUR per bottle and their GG Spaetlese for ~20..30EUR, directly at the vinery. Since 2006, prices (in EUR) have doubled; with GBP/EUR parity, tripled in GBP terms...
But then, purchasing those wines outside Franconia / from elsewhere than directly at the producer is rather difficult. In addition to that, if the wine and/or the year are on the good side, they tend to sell out at maker within less than a year of being bottled. After which, well, let me call them "illiquid liquid assets".
This pretty much applies to most Franconian wines/winemakers; even the more-renowned ones are family businesses and they want to sell out; they don't age their wines except what they keep for their own consumption.
Btw, the "yeasty apple" usually goes away from this wine after about three, four years; from my experience, it's typical for a "new" Silvaner and encountering it I see it as the sign of a too-young one, but tastes vary.
(Really enjoyed reading your blog; there's not many people that know about German wines in the UK, much less so about Franconian ones)