Stefan Vetter Poiré Cidre 2021
Location: Germany, Franken
Winemaker: Stefan Vetter
Fruit: Pears
From the Importer Vom Boden: ‘Poiré’ Vetter’s pear cider is effervescent, floral and beautifully delineated; a curious blend of rustic and supremely elegant.
Hidden deep within Vetter’s apple orchard are a few old pear trees. 2021 was only the fourth year where they produced enough juice to bottle on their own.
Poiré is crazy – it’s just so tactile and in your face. Close your eyes and smell a good poiré and you would swear there were slices of a juicy, ripe pear being held under your nose. But there aren’t – that’s the bad news. The good news is there is fermented pear juice in front of you, and it’s slightly alcoholic so that’s even better!
Stefan Vetter is f-ing punk rock.
In other words, Stefan has done nothing that has even the slightest commercial logic to it.
His old friend and brother-in-law Andreas Adam (of the celebrated Mosel estate A.J. Adam) must shake his head, watching Stefan, like a wild hermit, run himself up into the terraced vineyards of Franconia (see below) pursuing a most unlikely hero, Sylvaner. Unlike the dramatic and steep slopes on the Mosel, the feeling in Vetter’s vineyards is more rustic and pastoral. The landscape is more bucolic, with ancient, crumbling terraces nestled quietly and subtly in the hills, surrounded by all manner of wild growth – trees, bushes, orchards, etc. Vines grow here over a base of sandstone and limestone. It’s like the Mosel collided with the Pfalz or Baden and spat out Franken.
It’s no coincidence that Stefan Vetter would be drawn to vineyards like these; his temperament is a perfect match; slow and careful, with a methodical attention to detail, and not shying away from hard work. He seems physically drawn to these old terraced sites; he wants to work them and he wants to save them. He feels the greatness and the history, and he’s willing to do the hard work to let it show through in the wine.
Stefan is at the forefront of the natural wine movement in Germany. As such, he farms both organically and biodynamically, as would be expected. As he works only old vines, only in steep, terraced sites and everything is done by hand. It is hard to contextualize what he is doing within the history of Franken. As with the Rheingau, the wines here were once among the most celebrated in Germany. Würzburg, the region’s largest city, became very wealthy from the wine trade and many giant old domains still exist, churning out mostly nondescript, wine-like creations that do no justice to the estates, the vineyards and the region as a whole.
Stefan is changing this, a few old vines at a time—including making his first natural pear cider! Hidden deep within Vetter’s apple orchard are a few old pear trees. 2020 was only the third year where they produced enough juice to bottle on their own.
Poiré is crazy – it’s just so tactile and in your face. Close your eyes and smell a good poiré and you would swear there were slices of a juicy, ripe pear being held under your nose. But there aren’t – that’s the bad news. The good news is there is fermented pear juice in front of you, and it’s slightly alcoholic so that’s even better!
Location: Germany, Franken
Winemaker: Stefan Vetter
Fruit: Pears
From the Importer Vom Boden: ‘Poiré’ Vetter’s pear cider is effervescent, floral and beautifully delineated; a curious blend of rustic and supremely elegant.
Hidden deep within Vetter’s apple orchard are a few old pear trees. 2021 was only the fourth year where they produced enough juice to bottle on their own.
Poiré is crazy – it’s just so tactile and in your face. Close your eyes and smell a good poiré and you would swear there were slices of a juicy, ripe pear being held under your nose. But there aren’t – that’s the bad news. The good news is there is fermented pear juice in front of you, and it’s slightly alcoholic so that’s even better!
Stefan Vetter is f-ing punk rock.
In other words, Stefan has done nothing that has even the slightest commercial logic to it.
His old friend and brother-in-law Andreas Adam (of the celebrated Mosel estate A.J. Adam) must shake his head, watching Stefan, like a wild hermit, run himself up into the terraced vineyards of Franconia (see below) pursuing a most unlikely hero, Sylvaner. Unlike the dramatic and steep slopes on the Mosel, the feeling in Vetter’s vineyards is more rustic and pastoral. The landscape is more bucolic, with ancient, crumbling terraces nestled quietly and subtly in the hills, surrounded by all manner of wild growth – trees, bushes, orchards, etc. Vines grow here over a base of sandstone and limestone. It’s like the Mosel collided with the Pfalz or Baden and spat out Franken.
It’s no coincidence that Stefan Vetter would be drawn to vineyards like these; his temperament is a perfect match; slow and careful, with a methodical attention to detail, and not shying away from hard work. He seems physically drawn to these old terraced sites; he wants to work them and he wants to save them. He feels the greatness and the history, and he’s willing to do the hard work to let it show through in the wine.
Stefan is at the forefront of the natural wine movement in Germany. As such, he farms both organically and biodynamically, as would be expected. As he works only old vines, only in steep, terraced sites and everything is done by hand. It is hard to contextualize what he is doing within the history of Franken. As with the Rheingau, the wines here were once among the most celebrated in Germany. Würzburg, the region’s largest city, became very wealthy from the wine trade and many giant old domains still exist, churning out mostly nondescript, wine-like creations that do no justice to the estates, the vineyards and the region as a whole.
Stefan is changing this, a few old vines at a time—including making his first natural pear cider! Hidden deep within Vetter’s apple orchard are a few old pear trees. 2020 was only the third year where they produced enough juice to bottle on their own.
Poiré is crazy – it’s just so tactile and in your face. Close your eyes and smell a good poiré and you would swear there were slices of a juicy, ripe pear being held under your nose. But there aren’t – that’s the bad news. The good news is there is fermented pear juice in front of you, and it’s slightly alcoholic so that’s even better!
Location: Germany, Franken
Winemaker: Stefan Vetter
Fruit: Pears
From the Importer Vom Boden: ‘Poiré’ Vetter’s pear cider is effervescent, floral and beautifully delineated; a curious blend of rustic and supremely elegant.
Hidden deep within Vetter’s apple orchard are a few old pear trees. 2021 was only the fourth year where they produced enough juice to bottle on their own.
Poiré is crazy – it’s just so tactile and in your face. Close your eyes and smell a good poiré and you would swear there were slices of a juicy, ripe pear being held under your nose. But there aren’t – that’s the bad news. The good news is there is fermented pear juice in front of you, and it’s slightly alcoholic so that’s even better!
Stefan Vetter is f-ing punk rock.
In other words, Stefan has done nothing that has even the slightest commercial logic to it.
His old friend and brother-in-law Andreas Adam (of the celebrated Mosel estate A.J. Adam) must shake his head, watching Stefan, like a wild hermit, run himself up into the terraced vineyards of Franconia (see below) pursuing a most unlikely hero, Sylvaner. Unlike the dramatic and steep slopes on the Mosel, the feeling in Vetter’s vineyards is more rustic and pastoral. The landscape is more bucolic, with ancient, crumbling terraces nestled quietly and subtly in the hills, surrounded by all manner of wild growth – trees, bushes, orchards, etc. Vines grow here over a base of sandstone and limestone. It’s like the Mosel collided with the Pfalz or Baden and spat out Franken.
It’s no coincidence that Stefan Vetter would be drawn to vineyards like these; his temperament is a perfect match; slow and careful, with a methodical attention to detail, and not shying away from hard work. He seems physically drawn to these old terraced sites; he wants to work them and he wants to save them. He feels the greatness and the history, and he’s willing to do the hard work to let it show through in the wine.
Stefan is at the forefront of the natural wine movement in Germany. As such, he farms both organically and biodynamically, as would be expected. As he works only old vines, only in steep, terraced sites and everything is done by hand. It is hard to contextualize what he is doing within the history of Franken. As with the Rheingau, the wines here were once among the most celebrated in Germany. Würzburg, the region’s largest city, became very wealthy from the wine trade and many giant old domains still exist, churning out mostly nondescript, wine-like creations that do no justice to the estates, the vineyards and the region as a whole.
Stefan is changing this, a few old vines at a time—including making his first natural pear cider! Hidden deep within Vetter’s apple orchard are a few old pear trees. 2020 was only the third year where they produced enough juice to bottle on their own.
Poiré is crazy – it’s just so tactile and in your face. Close your eyes and smell a good poiré and you would swear there were slices of a juicy, ripe pear being held under your nose. But there aren’t – that’s the bad news. The good news is there is fermented pear juice in front of you, and it’s slightly alcoholic so that’s even better!