Sylvaner

In a nod to the Dresel family, German immigrants who had owned the land, the brothers planted sylvaner and riesling, two German grape varieties that are — well, let’s just say not widely planted these days in Northern California.

Over the past 15 years, their Scribe Winery has gained a following among the natural wine crowd for the pétillant naturel sparkling wines, a chardonnay fermented on its skins and a nouveau of pinot noir, as well as the riesling, sylvaner and other wines.

Bottle-fermented and crafted from Müller-Thurgau, Sylvaner, and Pinot Blanc, you can pair this brightly acidic, citrusy wine with something equally acidic, like strawberries, cherries, or a green salad with vinaigrette.

They include pinot blanc, known as weissburgunder in German; blaufränkisch, which in Germany is generally called lemberger; silvaner, often rendered sylvaner; and trollinger, better known in Italian as schiava.

The producer, Stefan Vetter, who uses the alternate spelling “sylvaner” on his labels, is devoted to small plots of old silvaner vines in the Franken region, often rehabilitating the vineyards himself.