Rating:
94
Wine Enthusiast
"This wine is made from a mix of 13 different grape varieties in a field blend. It's a totally terroir driven wine, full of mineral and gritty textures in its youth. Behind this structure is a wild range of flavors-spice, apples, pears and apricots-waiting to show through. It needs to age, so drink from 2016. - RV" (03/14)
Product Description:
Wine:
"This wine is both a revelation and a bargain. The Chateauneuf of Alsace. Made from 13 different grape varietals: Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir, Muscat, Pinot gris, Gewurztraminer, Sylvaner, Pinot Auxerrois, Chasselas, Pinot Beurot, Chasselas Rose, Traminer, Muscat Ottonel. Dry and aromatic, rich and ripe, perfectly balanced - yet never imported to the US until now." - Importer
"This wine comes exclusively from the vineyards of Domaine Marcel Deiss. It is produced annually from 13 Alsatian wines ducts and harvested together, pressed and vinified with the utmost respect, the sweetest technology and inputs without wine. These grapes express the plurality Alsatian and we are happy to produce a wine called our commitment to our region, grape varieties and traditions." - Winery
Winery Philosophy:
"The complantation (art of blending grape varietals in one Terroir) is the most original practice of viticulture in Europe. Long before the winemakers knew about the varieties and become scholar ampelographers, the complantation assumes a regular harvest as noted by Olivier de Serres in his book "The Theatre of agriculture and husbandry fields" (1600 ). Closer to our ear (1852), Jean-Louis Stolz characterized more than 100 grape varieties that cultivars planted in the vineyard in Alsace and described specific complantations in the greatest terroirs of Alsace (Sporen, Schoenenbourg Sonnenglanz, Zotzenberg, Kastelberg, Kaefferkopf). At that time, there were very few pure vineyard, the wine makers gradually realized a real adaptation of a complex vines in the terroir by layering technique (replace artistically a dead vine by its resistant neighbor better adapted)."
"While the grape variety has always been optional for AOC Alsace (Order 1945) and many plots on hillsides were still co-planted in the 60s, the introduction of the legislation which requires the mention of grape variety for Grand Cru (1975 ) can be considered as a historical mistake because it has resulted in a dramatic loss of biodiversity of vineyards, establishment of productive clones and a shift in all varieties. Fortunately, some winemakers have the perseverance and obstinacy, and in 2005, to reform this unjust law (the grape variety is now entirely optional for AOC Alsace and the Grand Cru)." - Winery
This wine was also rated 87 Points by both the International Wine Cellar and the Wine Spectator.
