Vinification

In Alsace, wines are made from 7 grape varieties: 6 whites (Sylvaner, Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Muscat, Gewurztraminer) and one red (Pinot Noir). They undergo monovarietal vinification, except for the Edelzwicker which is a blend of several varietals.

All our wines are vinified exclusively in oak barrels.

White wine making

After the harvest, the grapes are immediately pressed for hours and hours to extract as much juice as possible without damaging the grapes. After pressing, the juice (grape must) is transferred straight into the oak barrels according to its variety and the plot where it comes from. Then we move on to the clarification process, which consists in getting rid of the suspended particles (must) which might alter the taste of the wine. Then the fermentation phase, which means transforming the sugars of the juice into alcohol thanks to the yeast naturally present in the must, sets in. After a few weeks, at the end of the fermentation process, the wines are moved to eliminate the heaviest lees (yeast that has been depleted of sugar) and aged on fine lees for a few months. In our field, time is of the essence: as the saying goes, let time take its course. To wit, our wines are left to age for at least 7 months before being bottled.

Red and rosé wine making

In Alsace the Pinot Noir is the only variety that is used to make reds or rosés. The specificity of this wine is that the juice that is extracted is white. To get the red color, maceration is necessary. To do that, we remove the pomace and let the grape berries macerate from a few hours to a few weeks depending on the wine we want to obtain (for the rosé, a few hours are enough). The black color of the skin grape gives its color to the wine.

The making of the crémant

Just as in the Champagne region, the Crémant d’Alsace must be elaborated through a second alcoholic fermentation in the bottle which causes the wine to fizz. This is called “prise de mousse“, meaning secondary fermentation. After being left to age, the bottles are placed upside down, rotated day after day so that the deposit accumulates in the neck of the bottle prior to disgorgement. This deposit is then brought to freezing temperature thus solidifying into an “artificial cork” which pops out due to the pressure exerted by the carbonic gas contained in the wine. This loss of liquid is then replaced by adding liqueur (a mixture of cane sugar and wine) which, depending on the dosage, produces brut, dry or semi-dry Crémant d’Alsace. On our property we make exclusively Brut crémants.