In one of
my early posts I told you about a very special wine from Franconia, called “Alter
Satz”. The specialty of this wine is that it is vinified from a great variety
of grapes -35 in total - which grow together in a single vineyard and are harvested
and vinified together. This viticulture is known as “Gemischter Satz” (mixed
planting).
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| Alter fränkischer Satz |
What in the
distant past was something like the perils insurance for the vintner to ensure
that even in bad years he can harvest at least anything is nowadays a precious
refuge of biodiversity. But there remained not many of those spots, because
this doesn’t fit into a modernized, even industrialized viticulture. Especially
in the German wine region of Franconia some vintners sustained such vineyards
and preserved this tradition. Here this is called “Alter fränkischer Satz” and
the Slow-Food organization recognized the deserving protection of it.
In the truest
sense of the motto “eat and drink what you want to preserve” the Slow-Food Foundation
for Biodiversity nominated the “Alter fränkischer Satz” as a new passenger to
the Ark of Taste. The Ark of Taste lists more than 2000 heritage foods, plant
and animal species from all over the world, which are at risk of disappearing. It
focusses on the pleasure of good food with the commitment to the region it
comes from and to the environment. By consuming those produce everyone can
contribute to their preservation, because only if there is demand they will be
produced. To be part of this Ark is a great honor for the tradition of Franconian
winemaking.
You want to
know how this wine tastes! Well that’s a pretty tough question and there is no
easy answer. Take thirty and more grape varieties which are in different composition
in each vineyard and in different degrees of ripeness. Harvest and vinify them
together. Do I need to explain more? This is a too complex equation to solve.
Each wine and each vintage is unique, and that’s what makes this so outstanding
and worthy to preserve.
Interesting - wine as it used to be. Fermented in barrels or?
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