STEINACKER 2019

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Gravels at the foot of the subvosgian hills - charming, ample and fruity.

Appellation:

Alsace

Locality:

Grapes coming exclusively from local soils of the Steinacker.

Type of soil:

The Steinacker parcels of land are situated in the geological fracture zone of Ribeauvillé. This area is located at the bottom of the terraces from the Rhine valley. It lays over stony alluvial deposits (located between 50 and 90 centimetre bellow the surface) coming from the river crossing the Ribeauvillé area. The soils are brown, acid and not very rich. Gravels and sandy silts can be found together with silica pebbles (up to 50% at the surface). In some places an clayey interlayer is also present.

Certified organic grapes for an enhanced terroir expression:

Started in 2005, our conversion to organic production took a concrete form three years later in 2008 with the ECOCERT certification. Since 2012, all the cellar operations are also covered by the European specification so that we can now speak about organic wines.

Wine character:

The Steinacker single vineyard uses to give very ripe grapes with hints of botrytis. The nose is open and fruity with anise flavours combined with ripe fruit aromas. The mouth is powerful, wide and fruity with a delicate freshness yielding to a good length for the wine.

Tips for consuming:

May be served with all dishes which require a dry white wine: crustaceans, shellfish, fish (grilled or served in sauce), white meat, and of course sauerkraut.
Wine to be appreciated immediately. A longer ageing period will lead to the formation of the typical mineral flavours of the Riesling.

The 2019 vintage:

This new vintage follows the very generous 2018 vintage which did not always allow the vines to build up reserves. With a dry Autumn 2018 and capricious weather conditions the start of the growth got very heterogeneous. The cold temperature end of April and beginning of May did not improve the situation either and induced very slow growth of the vegetation. Some heavy rains in June, followed by extreme temperatures in July added more stress to the vines.
However, the harvest could start on September 12th and lasted until October 15th. The conditions were not stable at all with hot days and cooler ones. Luckily no heavy precipitations occurred.
Finally, we harvested nice and ripe grapes with great balance.