Basement of granit and gneiss from the Vosges - dry and straight forward.
Gamme | Crus & Lieux-dits |
Caractère du vin | Sec |
Cépage | Riesling |
Millésime | 2017 |
Alsace
Grapes coming exclusively from local soils of the Hagel located bellow the ruins of the 3 castles of Ribeauvillé.
The Hagel vineyards are in the geological fracture zone of Ribeauvillé. The steep slopes are situated at the beginning of the valley behind Ribeauvillé on the oldest type of soils we can find on earth: gneiss from Precambrian era. Three major points are to be noticed concerning these terroirs: They are chilled by the fresh winds (Tahlwind) coming out of the valley down from the Vosges mountains during summer nights. This maintains the acidity level of the grapes giving nice structures to the resulting wines. The second point is related to the composition of the soils which gives the wines lot of finesse and rightness. Finally, these poor soils allow only very low yields giving concentrated wines.
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.
Very fine nose with notes of citrus and hints of minerality. On the palate, the wine is straight and vertical. The delicate acidity gives the wine a good length and an interesting ageing potential. Typical dry wine for the gastronomes.
We had a relatively dry winter 2016-2017. The precipitations did not allow to regenerate the water resources of the soils. January was cold over a long period with temperatures down to -10°C. This was very positive for the structure of the soils.
Thanks to temperatures above average mid-March, the vines stated to grow quite early. Flowering went well. A nice summer reinforced the precocity of the vintage.
The key factors of the vintage are the small crops. This is related to a succession of problems that affected the production: frost, hail, drought (less than 250 mm rainfall from April to August), and finally wind. The addition of all these difficulties highly affected the yields. We had to face the smallest yields over decades.
The harvest started on September 7th in good conditions. The grapes were perfect. Thanks to ideal weather conditions it was possible to harvest each plot of the vineyard at the perfect moment without the pression of meteorological conditions.
The wines from 2017 are precise, elegant with a delicate but not invasive freshness. For sure a very nice vintage.
May be served with all dishes which require a dry white wine: crustaceans, shellfish, fish (grilled or served in sauce), white meat, and of course sauerkraut.
Wine to be appreciated immediately. A longer ageing period will lead to the formation of the typical mineral flavours of the Riesling.