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Amber RoadWine Co.
Botanical illustration of a golden-yellow grape cluster with leaf and tendril.
Botanical illustration of a golden-yellow grape cluster with leaf and tendril.

Solaris

so-LAH-ris · white · PIWI (fungus-resistant hybrid)

Origin
Freiburg, Germany, 1975 (Merzling × Gm 6493)
Where it grows
Poland (most planted), Germany, Denmark, Sweden, England
Ripens
very early · high sugar, moderate acidity
Likes
cool sites, loess and sand, good drainage
Typical winemaking
steel, dry or off-dry; skin contact and pét-nat rising

The story

Solaris was bred for the cold. Released by the Freiburg institute in 1975, it ripens weeks ahead of Riesling and shrugs off mildew, which is why it became the most-planted variety in a country where winter can reach −20 °C. The best Polish growers now treat it as a serious grape rather than an insurance policy: picked early for freshness, fermented dry, sometimes on its skins.

In the glass it is ripe and open: yellow apple, pear, elderflower, a honeyed edge. It is the easiest door into Polish wine, and the one most people walk through first.

Sensory profile

Where it grows

Open Solaris in the atlas

Soils it likes

Food pairing

Pierogi with cheese and potato, smoked fish, young goat cheese, asparagus, Thai green curry. With skin contact: roast chicken, mushrooms, aged Gouda.

Related grapes

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In the Amber Road portfolio

Producers growing it