The town of Bergheim, Haut-Rhin, near Ribeauville, or some 18 km from Colmar, is like so many other villages in this north-eastern corner of France, which they call Alsace!
Alsace is one of those beautiful places everyone should visit once in their lives. Why?
Just 5 reasons here:
- Alsace is tucked into the North-East corner of France along the German border, a region of just 120km length and 5.8 km width, although not every part is under vine. On the German side (the other side of the Rhine) you have the region of Baden, 400km longest wine region between Franken and Bodensee. A compact region, many choices.
- Some 15 parcels of Riesling of the Grand Cru Schoenenbourg get vinified separately eg in 2007 and only released in 2015, because “some white wines need to age”! (Hugel) Learn and appreciate the dedication of the winemakers and the fascination of great white wine, with ageing potential.
- There are 13 different major soil types in Alsace incorporating volcanic elements, granite, gneiss, schist, marl, sandstone, limestone, sand, loess, loam….and through a series of trial and error many winemakers have selected the optimal pairing of vine and soil. Fascinating landscapes and wine-cellars.
- Grape varieties planted: the primary grape varieties are Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Sylvaner, Muscat à Petits Grains Blanc, Muscat Ottonel and then the secondary grape varieties are Chardonnay, Chasselas, Auxerrois Blanc, and Klevener de Heiligenstein. The wine styles are dry (both white and red), sparkling and sweet/dessert: a myriad of wines to try.
- In Alsace expect a cuisine with robust flavours and creative Germanic names, eg Flammkuchen, or Choucroute, a match for those structured mineral white wines. Learn about the unique amalgamation of Alsace’s French and German traditions.
History started as far back as 2AD and the Roman Empire used this fertile and productive region for growing vines. The Germanic Tribes invaded this region in the 5th century. Between 14th -16th Century the wines of Alsace were among the most expensive and sought-after wines in Europe, and were shipped to the Netherlands, England and Scandinavia. From the 16th Century to modern day, Alsace was caught between long wars, annexations, occupations mostly between France and Germany, with France receiving Alsace back in 1945.
Bergheim
Bergheim and the nearest bigger towns are described on the website https://www.ribeauville-riquewihr.com/en/ , “L’Office de Tourisme” for the region. This town is the only one that has maintained its medieval fortified walls (built around the 1300). Belonging to the Alsace Wine Route, it is a quaint, calm town, with many small wineries. A curiosity at one of these fortified wall entrances into the city of Bergheim is a “bas-relief” of a villager running like mad! Nothing special you say, but look closely and see how he shows off his naked buttocks and sticks out his tongue! “LACK”Mi” is the laughing figure of a refugee who escaped the authorities at the time, finding safety in Bergheim. In 1310 Henry VII, King of Germany and also the Holy Roman Emperor, conferred upon Bergheim the right to grant asylum for fleeing refugees. The text next to this figure, says that some 744 refugees were granted asylum for their offenses, which were without intent and pardonable. Some history texts advise that the offenses were more violent.
Domaine Deiss
For Jean-Michel and Mathieu Deiss, the present family members running the Domaine Marcel Deiss, some 26 hectares of different plots, it has been a long and unusual journey when he finally convinced the INAO, in 2005, to allow all 50 Grand Cru (at the time) to release their wines without the grape variety/ies mentioned on the label. The approximately 220 plots are managed biodynamically since 1998, and before this, over many years, the farming methods were already organic. Deiss is known for being the “terriorist”, the “winegeek”, the man who understands like no other the soils of his plots. Stories of dynamiting the rock bed in certain sites, so his young vines can dig their roots into the soil to search for minerals and nutrients, and also of complantation, the art of blending grape varieties in one vineyard, make this Domaine a worthy visit.
These methods seemed absurd for many Alsation winemakers, but until the 1960s many plots were co-planted, and only with the Grand Cru legislation in 1975, was the named grape variety a requirement on the label. Some winemakers “have the perseverance and obstinacy to reform this unjust law. Now it is time for us to re-discover the original encepagements of Grands Terroirs in Alsace” (as noted in the Philosophy of Marcel Deiss).
The charismatic Jean-Michel Deiss has this point of view, which was echoed at our tasting:
The winemaker is to produce wines with the expression of an individual terroir and by putting the variety on the label you set the consumer’s expectation to that set variety, and not the location!
The 51 Grand Cru went through a legal change in 2011, allowing each Grand Cru its own independent set of regulations. These AOCs only produce wines of stunning quality, mostly single variety wines. Riesling, Pinot Gris, Muscat or Gewurztraminer are used (Sylvaner is only permitted for one Grand Cru, Zotzenberg) and are either dry or sweet and can have a special cuvée name on the label. There are 2 exceptions to the single variety wines: Alsace Grand Cru Kaefferkopf and Alsace Grand Cru Altenberg de Bergheim.
“Our region is rich, especially in its differences”
The categories of wines at the Domaine Marcel Deiss:
- Fruit wines, for fast and easy consumption, the traditional varieties of the Communal AOC
- Wines that require Patience, Late Harvests, and Selection of Noble Grapes
- Terroir Wines, with a reflection of the Landscape, from regional wines/ communal wines and “Premier Crus”- according to Domaine Deiss “hierachization is underway”- or Grand Crus, no indication of the grape variety/ies. The 9 “Premiers Crus” and 3 Grand Crus are from companion planted vines/ field-blended wines. “Premiers Crus” are the so called “Alsace Lieu-dit AOC”, a subcategory (not independent) of the Alsace AOC.
(to clarify: Alsace has 53 AOCs ie. 51 Grand Cru AOCs, one Crémant d’Alsace AOC, one Alsace AOC)
The Tasting
After an explanation of the terroirs of three Lieu-dits and a potential food pairing- followed by a blind tasting of three wines, one from each terroir, my wine club proved the point!
The majority had gotten the sequence of the 3 wines. No-one had asked about which grape variety was in the wine, it was a question of terroir!
- Rotenburg vineyard (Bergheim), also known as “The Red hill”, Euro 31.50 per bottle
Precocious terroir, oolithe limestone slab, red soil marked by iron. The Terroir of Jurassic limestone.
Wines are supposed to be enjoyed quite young, fresh, very dry, earthy, with lemon frame, orange blossom, aromatic complexity, elegant.
2014 Rotenberg La Colline Rouge rated 17.5/20 and was recognized as aged, very dry, stony, lemony… Food paring: Seafood, fresh/fried foie gras, Chicken, cheese. The wine is a complantation of Riesling and Pinot Gris! When at the winery in Alsace, the host was asked about TA and RS and explained that this was not important for the expression of the wine- I did learn that the RS was about 28g/l. Historically most Alsace wines were fermented to dryness, but climate change has given the winemaker more choices, as there are laws governing residual sugar levels.
- Gruenspiel (Bergheim), The Green Game, The Terroir of grave and marls. Euro 31 per bottle
An amphitheatre facing the south, of heterogenous nature ie “torrential sandstone deposits, some gneissic granite, placed on a matrix of deep lacustrine Keuper marls”. This gives the wine phenomenal length, a slight tannic structure, power, minerality of hot rolled gravel.
2013 Gruenspiel, Le jeu des Verts, rated 15.5/20, many garden aromatics/flavours, depth and richest of all 3 wines. Food pairing: veal, game birds, guinea fowl, tartar of beef, cheeses. The wine was a complantation of Riesling, Pinot Noir, Gewurztraminer.
- Langenberg (St-Hippolyte), The Long Hill, Terroir of poor and thin granite. Euro 29 per bottle
Steep landscape of historical terraces, poor thin granite: a complex vineyard leading to spicy bouquets, a cloud of aromas, with typical salinity in the finish. Wines can be broad and complex, subtle, with some sour and tonic expressions.
2017 Langenberg St Hippolyte, La longue Colline rated 16.5/20, with being the youngest, having lots of freshness, very mineral and saline, long aftertaste. This was a complantation of Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Beurot, Muscat, Pinot Noir.
There is so much more to learn. Domaine Deiss keeps its yields very low (some say “less than a bottle per vine”- while the norm is 4 bottles per vine); all grape varieties are picked at the same time, fermented together; some grapes go through a very slow fermentation (only indigenous yeasts) in large foudres; extended sur-lie and batonnage are also used; wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered.
And the Grand Crus of Marcel Deiss?
Grand Cru Mambourg (Sigolsheim), grown on quaternary Oligocene limestone, a “perfectly dry, powerful field blend of the Pinot family”, renowned from the Middle Ages.
Grand Cru Schoenenbourg (Riquewhir), grown on Keuper marl and gypsum, a semi-dry to sweet wine, rich, concentrated, mostly some presence of noble rot, very expressive.
One of the exceptions of the 51 Grand Crus is:
Grand Cru Altenberg de Bergheim, a 35 hectare Grand Cru at 220 to 320 m above sea-level. The most notable producers here are Marcel Deiss, G. Lorentz, Dom. S. Spielmann. This was my favourite and in 2017 it was in the Annual Guide Top 100 Wine and Spirits magazine.
“It is an exception because it can be comprised of a single variety (Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris or Riesling) or may be a blend. If a blend, the wine must at least comprise 50% Riesling (max 70%) plus a min. of 10% and a max. of 25% Gewurztraminer and/or Pinot Gris (plus no more than 10% Chasselas, Muscat à Petits Grains Blanc, Muscat Ottonel, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir in the sum, if these vines were planted before 2005)”
Source: www.winescholarguild.org
The vines are planted in clayey-calcareous sandstone soil, ferrous red, rich in limestone rock. Field Blend of all Alsation varieties, including the pink Chasselas.
The 2012 tasting: A sweet white wine, golden in colour, with strong minerality throughout, ripe tropical and citrus fruit explosion on the palate, apple-cake and a fresh honeyed finish, a superb balance; an interminable ageing potential, at least 20 years. This wine was so elegant, that it could fit with a whole meal from a starter of terrine of foie gras, to a rich chicken main meal, blue cheese and fruit-based/creamy desserts!
What did we learn? Terroir is in the first degree deep, knowledgeable, often family based, tradition but also clearly a very sound vision for the future of unique wines!
“Great Wine is at first the result of risk-taking without which there is not big realization. Without risk, there is no freedom, and without freedom, no creation.” (J-M Deiss)