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our vineyard

Grand Cru Zotzenberg in MITTELBERGHEIM

  • Surface : 36,45 hectares au total.
    5,40 hectares belong to our winery including :
    – 184 acres de Riesling
    – 83 acres de Pinot Gris
    – 148 acres de Gewurztraminer
    – 125 acres de Sylvaner (this grape variety is part of Grands Crus only in the Zotzenberg)
  • Exposition : South and Southeast
  • Municipality : Mittelbergheim
  • Altitude : 225 – 310 m
Wines

This place was originally called “Zoczenberg” (1364). The name Zotzenberg is only mentioned in 1541 in the village archives.
Zotzenberg is one of the most famous localities in Alsace.
It was marketed very early under its own name: from the beginning of the 20th century.

The major part of the soil is composed of a clay-silt formation with ochre-coloured limestone fragments on Jurassic marl.
The highest part of the plot, more chalky is well suited to Riesling. Sylvaner is planted in the middle of the hill in the more clayey part.

A part situated above the centre of the village is composed of a red clay-sand-lime formation, with ferruginous limestone fragments. This type of soil is perfectly suited to Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer.

Wines from Zotzenberg are long-keeping wines. They are distinguished by their finesse, their elegance and an exceptional structure.

Grand Cru Moenchberg in EICHHOFFEN

  • Surface : 11,83 hectares in total
    Our winery has 99 acres, used exclusively for the Riesling
  • Exposition : South and Southeast
  • Municipalities : Andlau et Eichhoffen
  • Altitude : 220 – 260 m

Wines

This is one of the oldest vineyards in Alsace. Vine culture was already practiced here by the Romans.
Its name means “Monks Hill”. The wine produced by the monks of the Altdorf Abbey, which owned the Moenchberg as early as 1097, was already very famous at that time.

The soils are fine-textured, clayey-silty and sometimes sandy. The top of the basin is a little more chalky.

The wines of Moenchberg are great wines for ageing. They are fruity, fine, elegant and racy.

“Lieux-dits” – Localities

Stein

The vineyard is located in the village of Mittelbergheim, on a south-facing slope with limestone and stony soil. We grow only Riesling, which is particularly well adapted to this terroir.

Kritt

This locality is situated on a clayey-marl plateau on the heights of Eichhoffen. The soil is especially well suited to Gewurztraminer, which we grow on an area of 80 acres. It expresses all the typicality of the grape variety, with notes of dried rose petals and spices (pepper and nutmeg), all in finesse and harmony.

Klevener de Heiligenstein

It is the most confidential wine of Alsace, a curiosity specific to the village of Heiligenstein. Klevener (not to be confused with klevner, the Alsatian name for pinot blanc) is this old traminer grape variety, in other words the pink savagnin, a relative of the white savagnin which, in the Jura, gives the yellow wine. In 1970, the klevener had almost disappeared from Alsace, there were only 3 ha left in Heiligenstein. Today, it occupies about 60 hectares. Its decree of appellation as A.O.C. Alsace Klevener de Heiligenstein dates from 1997. It offers well-balanced, well-structured wines, with a sweet aroma (peach, rose, mango), less spicy and less exuberant than the gewurztraminer. Its production area, near Barr, at the foot of Mont Odile, covers four other neighbouring municipalities on clay-silica soil: Bourgheim, Goxwiller, Gertwiller. Its discreetly aromatic character makes it rare and desirable for the wine experts. It can be kept for about ten years.

Geology

Like the whole Alsatian vineyard, the soils have very diversified geological characteristics. In an area of a few square kilometres, we find limestone, clay-limestone, marl-limestone, silty or sandstone soils, which allows all the Alsatian grape varieties to be successfully cultivated.

This diversity is the result of the Rhine basin collapse. 300 million years ago, the Vosges and the Black Forest formed a single massif that culminated at an altitude of 3,000 metres. It was the collapse of this massif by two north-south breaks that created the Rhine Gap 50 million years ago.

CLIMATE

Our vineyard is located on the sub-Vosges hills, at an altitude of 160 m to 310 m.

Thanks to the protection of the Vosges mountains, we benefit from a sunny and dry semi-continental climate, hot in summer and cold in winter. Rainfall is low: 500 to 600 mm of water per year, with 1600 to 1800 hours of sunshine per year.

These climatic conditions favour a slow ripening of the grapes, very appropriate for the development of expressive and fine aromas.