The catchup continues. We are right back in April for my “Recent Wines”. Two parts, the first showing wines from Franken, Hampshire, Burgundy, Burgenland and Jura.

Silvaner Thüngersheim Rothlauf GG 2019, Weingut Rudolf May (Franken, Germany)

I seem to be unusual in that I do quite like Silvaner. Of course, it has changed rather a lot over the decades, from the afterthought of the 1980s and 90s, where under-ripe fruit so often gave us shrieking acidity. Now we have Silvaner with a Grosses Gewächs, or Grand Cru, designation if you like. How do such wines stack up against the similarly designated Rieslings?

Weingut Rudolf May is based at Retzstadt, about 20km north of Würzburg. The estate was originally founded on just 2-hectares in 1998, but it has grown to 17 ha. This expansion hasn’t been at the expense of quality, in fact just the oppostite. Most would recognise them as a top domaine. They make some of the very finest Silvaner in Germany (some argue the finest).

The key may well be the soils here. If Silvaner can’t match Riesling on a world stage, Franken’s fossil-rich soils reveal themselves in the wines through a deep minerality. The regime is organic with sulphur additions kept to a bare minimum, but otherwise the wine is simply made with low intervention.

The bouquet is pear and apple fruit, with a more floral note rising above, the palate has weight (and 13% abv) but is nicely poised and balanced. That mineral texture comes through as pebbly and chalky. The acidity is tempered. This is fine and majestic. It will age further but to me it has that tension right now that is thrilling. Surely a wine that should convert the unbelievers?

Imported by Howard Ripley, my bottle came from The Solent Cellar (£46).

Promised Land Riesling Brut Nature 2017, Charlie Herring Wines (Hampshire, England)

Tim Phillips is (I think) unique as a pioneer of Riesling in the UK. The books will tell you it can’t be done, but Tim’s Clos du Paradis vineyard combines heat-retention and wind protection of the brick walls of a large Victorian kitchen garden with a unique location, just inland from The Solent with the protection of the Isle of Wight. The island itself is famous for its horticulture, and the stretch of coastline to its immediate north might be a “race” to make sailors careful, but it is protected from the wind, and indeed provides a notable bird sanctuary.

This is sparkling Riesling, bottle fermented by the traditional method. Farming is organic and “natural”, Tim being a long-time follower of Masonobu Fukuoka’s regenerative ideas. In fact, Tim is probably the most deeply thoughtful vine grower I know when it comes to how to farm grapes in such a sometimes trying climate.

The wine spent four years on lees and was bottled with minimal added sulphur. The first thing you might notice is rapier-like acidity. Yet this is a fine spine of acid, delicate, like frost. Add in white flowers, lemon citrus and a textured mineral base, and although you would still call this “young”, it is amazingly refreshing.

Yes, this will age, and I kind of wish I’d given it longer. Not that it wasn’t brilliant now, merely that there are never too many bottles of these to stock up on. It is undoubtedly a real achievement to have created this.

Although this bottle came from Tim direct, it will, when available, appear locally at The Solent Cellar, and also via Les Caves de Pyrene, who continue to support Tim’s work. Otherwise get in on Tim’s open days, although you will have just missed one.

Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles-Vignes 2006, Domaine Bachelet (Burgundy, France)

I was an early purchaser of the wines of Domaine Bachelet. This was back in the days before natural wine, and when Burgundy was more or less affordable, at least for the best “village” wines. I’m pretty sure I picked up on this producer from a wine tv show Jancis Robinson had back then, which featured the famous American importer/agent Becky Wasserman, who worked with Denis Bachelet, in his twenties at that time and very much seen as a rising star.

The Vieilles Vignes was always seen as a special wine and also something of a bargain. Genuinely old vines made up for a lack of Premier Cru designation. It must be said that 2006 was not what one might describe as a top vintage, certainly lacking the caché of the preceding 2005, but a good number of very good wines came out of it, especially from top names. I bought a good spread of Fourrier 2006, and Lafon if I recall, which have thus far proved delicious.

I would say that this didn’t match the Fourriers, perhaps being slightly tired. But the cellar is cold and as it warmed the fruit that was there did assert itself. Yet it was still enjoyable. You learn so much from a wine like this, even though it may have already peaked. It’s still getting 90+ from the points merchants but it probably isn’t one to keep in the unlikely event you have some. The thrill of this comes from the fact that so few of us, assuming I know my readers, can afford wines like these too often now.

I’m not totally sure where this came from but I think Domaine Bachelet can be had from Berry Brothers.

Maskerade Rosé 2021, Gut Oggau (Burgenland, Austria)

Another rarely drunk domaine, rarely only because of increasing prices. Gut Oggau makes some of my favourite wines, definitely in my favourite half-dozen producers. Oggau is a small village just up the road from Rust, on the western shore of the Neusiedlersee. Stephanie and Eduard Tscheppe-Eselböck run perhaps one of the most advanced estates in Europe when it comes to thinking about natural wine, regenerative farming and eco-system creation. Although they have not adopted every aspect of these methodologies, the biodiversity here is telling, as is the kindness to both humans and nature which oozes out of this wonderful couple.

What of this wine? The Maskerade cuvées are field blends, from sites which they had recently taken over at the time of this vintage. Although organic, the plots were undergoing conversion to the full Gut Oggau way of working. Stephanie and Eduard said that the vineyards were “holding a tiny bit of their beautiful personalities back”, hence the idea of the masks on the labels. Time will indeed reveal their true personalities and vineyards and wines.

This is a delicate, quite pale, Rosé. Both bouquet and palate reveal exquisite, gentle, raspberry fruit with strawberry following on the finish. You will certainly also identify a touch of cranberry which adds the smallest hint of bite to the finish. It’s a natural wine and there is the merest hint of funk, that adds personality. But this itself is enveloped in an elegant exterior. Refreshing yet also ephemeral.

Bottled in a useful litre size, this cost around £40 from Dynamic Vines in Bermondsey. Also try Antidote Wine Bar’s shop in Central London and Feral Art et Vin in Bordeaux.

Arbois Vin Jaune 2006, Domaine de la Pinte (Jura, France)

I’ve often said that Domaine de la Pinte is one of the unsung producers in the Jura Region. The estate was established in the early 1950s and became the first fully organic producer (other than the small farmers who couldn’t afford chemical inputs) in Arbois. Bruno Cofi took over (from the famous Philippe Chatillon) as estate manager/director in 2009 and began conversion to biodynamics. Bruno moved to Anjou in 2016, but he was in charge for the making of this wine.

La Pinte makes a range of mostly good value wines with some real stars. If I’m in Arbois I will never fail to get some of their Melon à Queue Rouge and the L’Ami Karl Poulsard. They also began some very interesting skin contact experiments in the later 2010s.

I’m also a fan of the Vin Jaune here. In fact, if you visit the domaine, or their shop in Arbois (just opposite Maison Jeunet), you can usually pick up some old bottles. I have some from the 1980s, and have even seen (but can’t afford) my birth year. But current releases are definitely worth grabbing and laying down, and I would suggest they age very well.

This has, with time, become an elegant Vin Jaune which I would suggest is drinking well right now. Off classic Marnes Bleues soils (Cretaceous blue marls), yielding a mere 20hl/h. Aged sous voile in a very special underground cellar (which you can visit), it is nutty and full of ginger and curry spice when young. Over time this 2006 has become very smooth, almost velvet-textured for a Vin Jaune. However, it has all that classic VJ intensity you’d wish for.

I’m always happy to point people towards Domaine de la Pinte for great quality-to-price value, although it’s fair to say that Vin Jaune prices have risen a lot, a mix of increased costs, frost and hail, plus of course the inexorable rise in the fashionability and cult status of all things Jura. That said, this bottle was purchased at the domaine and current vintages (for example, the 2016) there will cost around €60. You can do a lot worse.