GROSSBERG 2012 - Red wine (aged in oak barrels)

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Limestone/sandstone piedmonts - wine aged in oak barrels

Appellation:

Alsace

Locality:

Grapes coming exclusively from two plots of vines owned on the Grossberg hillsides.

Type of soil :

The Louis SIPP parcels of Grossberg are situated in the geological fracture zone of Ribeauvillé. They are found west from the Grand Cru Kirchberg vineyards. The Grossberg vineyard lays over a hard layer of chalk and sandy marls. The soils are made of sands, limes and chalk. The exposition to the sun is south south-west. These chalky, early fruiting hillsides allow low yields with a high level of richness. All these factors are well adapted to the growth of Pinot Noir vines.

Certified organic grapes for an enhanced terroir expression:

Started in 2005, our conversion to organic production took a concrete form three years later in 2008 with the ECOCERT certification. Since 2012, all the cellar operations are also covered by the European specification so that we can now speak about organic wines.

Wine character:

A wine full of character. Nice dense red color. The nose is open and complex, with some wood notes and nice red fruits flavors. Direct on the palate, dense and still tannic. It follows previous sunny vintages like 2009 and 2011: Powerful and elegant

Tips for consuming:

This wine is still young. However, it can be enjoyed now provided it is decanted for a day or so. Grossberg needs 10 year to reach its Apogee.
An ideal accompaniment to cold meats and salads, poultry and white meat, red meat, game, and finally with some cheeses.
Works well also with dark chocolate. Un unusual pairing that works well.
This wine would benefit from ageing a couple of months to allow the tannins to get rounder.

Vines and vinification:

This Grossberg is coming from vineyards driven with low yields, thanks to a strict management of the vigor of the vines. Fully ripe grapes are manually harvested, destemmed and slightly crushed before maceration and fermentation. After a smooth pressing the wine is aged a couple of months in oak barrels and then bottled.

The 2012 - vintage:

2012 will stay in our memories as a chaotic vintage when considering the weather conditions. After a very warm month of March, the temperatures got cold for the next weeks. The flowering took a long time in fresh and humid conditions. Summertime started with rain and cold temperatures, but fortunately August got warmer. September was nice and not too warm so that the final maturing process took place under ideal conditions. The harvest started on September 24th with the grapes for the Cremant d’Alsace and went one with the other varietals afterwards. Thanks to the stable conditions at the end the cycle we could harvest fresh and mature grapes in sound condition. They did not carry at all the stigmas on the season...