Anders Frederik Steen - "I Was Born in a Small Town" VDF white 2019 500ML (13.75% ABV)

very rare & allocated (we could only get 3 of these 500ml bottles!) from natural wine icon Anders Steen. Don't delay - a must for fans of funky and unique natty wines.

Anders Frederik Steen and Anne Bruun Blauert make their thoughtful
and highly original wines from “grapes and only grapes”.
Anders began making wine in 2013 when he first started purchasing
fruit from winemakers he admired and making wine alongside his friend,
legendary Jura winemaker, Jean-Marc Brignot. The couple and their
young family have now settled in the beautiful village of Valvignères in
the Ardèche. The many varieties grown here thrive on a perfect mix of
clay and limestone and the vineyards are full of life, having been tended
organically for decades.
As well as their own vineyards, the two also harvest grapes with their
friends Gérald and Jocelyne Oustric of La Mazel in Valvignères and
further afield with the Bannwarth family in Obermorschwihr, Alsace.

In his previous life Anders was both a chef and sommelier, working at
the best restaurants in his native Denmark. This experience informs the
couple’s winemaking, in that a little like a kitchen working with the
seasons, they do not seek to follow rules or conventions and do not feel
the need to make the same wines each year. Instead, as they harvest, they
taste the grapes and begin to imagine the kind of wine they might be
able to make. Layers of flavour and texture are brought about through
slow presses, oxygen and canny blends.
It is a refreshingly free, creative approach that yields thought provoking,
sometimes challenging wines that are truly one of a kind

Pinot Gris from Alsace on limestone hillside.
creamy, high acid, oxidation, bold fruit, a unique expression of Pinot Gris from the gorgeous vineyards of Famille Bannwarth in Obermorschwihr, Alsace. Here the grapes
macerated for a couple of days, before being pressed straight to barrel for
four years of ageing without topping up. Time and oxygen have rendered
a remarkably savoury, complex wine that is all salt, earth and spice. A
meditative wine that is best enjoyed slowly, alongside a good piece of
cheese.

region: Alsace, France (fruit) wine made in Ardeche (Rhone)

varietal: Pinot Gris

style: white / skin contact

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pairing: