Gewurztraminer Hengst

Bright pale yellow colour. The nose is subtle, with classic light floral aromas, heralding a delicate wine with a lacy structure. The palate is airy, offering a very vertical wine, enhanced by a dry, strict, taut and persistent finish. It is amazing how such a light wine can offer such presence and character. This wine will go far and develop the full potential of this Grand Cru vineyard.

This same unique terroir gives the dry, broad-bodied Gewurztraminer a singular expression of citron and cardamom. In a very fine momentum, accompanied by a nuance of oriental spices, the Hengst reveals itself gently with great persistence.

Only the two parcels of old vines, planted in 1957 and before 1939, are used to produce this wine in the Hengst Grand Cru, and they are also located in the historic heart of the Grand Cru, halfway up the hillside, facing south-southeast. The Oligocene limestone is a young limestone, covered with little marl and very aggressive for the vine (45% active limestone!). The Hengst also benefits from a warm and dry meso-climate, ideal for obtaining a good physiological maturity for this grape variety. The harvest is often late, but Hengst develops little noble rot and only late, which was the case in 2012. Hengst grapes also have the ability to ferment well and produce powerful wines, less marked by residual sugars.

Unfortunately, Muscat is slowly disappearing from the Alsace wine scene and production will soon be less than 1% of the region! The Grand Cru Goldert has always been specialised for Muscat, in particular for the petit grain type (later maturation, higher acidity) called Muscat d'Alsace. Even today, more than a third of the vineyard is planted with this variety, making it probably the largest in Alsace. Muscat is a high yielding grape that can often lack structure and complexity. The late-ripening Oolithic limestone of Goldert has the potential to bring balance, structure and ageing potential to this wine, but more importantly, it can also harness the powerful varietal flavours and impose a complex mineral style. The 2016 was harvested with slightly less alcoholic power than usual and fermented over a full year to achieve ideal balance.