W.E. Frank

Wolfgang Erwin Frank has devised a very unusual, even controversial, wine style. Having been a wine lover for the past 30 years and involved in various wine-related businesses, he started this Riesling project in the rented premises of a defunct wine estate in Nierstein in 2015. Frank aims to make “Riesling at the top end.” Since he wanted to make the most powerful wine style possible, he decided to source his fruit from the warm Red Slope, and his maiden vintage was 2015, with fruit sourced from the Orbel and Pettenthal vineyards. Today Frank obtains fruit from 2.7 hectares of partly owned, partly leased vineyards and has an annual production of 10,000-12,000 bottles. Grapes are hand harvested and pressed hard, with up to 3.5 to 4 bars of pressure in a horizontal press without previous maceration. The juice then goes unsedimented into a square plastic container, is cooled down to 3°C with dry ice and kept at this temperature for three to four weeks. Frank refers to this process as “extreme cold maceration” (even though the juice is pressed) and calls it ‘stabulation,’ as he holds that this stabilizes the aromas that usually are volatile and escape during fermentation and locks them in the wine. He claims that this sets free glutathiones, powerful anti-oxidants that further stabilize the wine, and believes this is a “positive side effect of the fixing of volatile components.” Please note that these are his claims, merely reported but scientifically unverified here. After this process, any wine solids have settled, and the must is drawn off into barrel. Cultured yeast is only employed if fermentation does not start naturally. Barrels remain outside during winter, exposed to the elements and cold temperatures Frank hopes will slow the fermentation down. His theory is that this will preserve many aspects of the wine, which would dissipate during a warmer, more vigorous, faster ferment. The wines are then sulfured the following May or June to retain some residual sweetness. The decision is down to taste rather than analysis. The wines then stay in barrel for a further year before being bottled and spend more time aging in bottle before release. The current release is 2019. He fully acknowledges that his wines will split opinion with their uncompromising pursuit of body and power, but he is happy to be a complete contrarian. The wines are unusually powerful. They do not come across as contemporary, modern wines but rather like essences made in an ancient, remote convent to fortify and nourish the sick when taken in tiny quantities.

From 2022 Rheinhessen & Nahe: Rain in the Nick of Time (Sep 2023) by Anne Krebiehl MW

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2019 Riesling Ludwigshöher Teufelskopf Erste Lage

Color: White

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2018 Riesling Ludwigshöher Teufelskopf Erste Lage

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2019 Riesling Niersteiner Hipping Grosse Lage

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2019 Riesling Niersteiner Ölberg Grosse Lage

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2019 Riesling Niersteiner Orbel Grosse Lage

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2019 Riesling Niersteiner Pettenthal Grosse Lage

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