Harvest 2022

This year 2022 by its climatic excesses seems to have marked the spirits and could bring a beginning of awareness of the influence of our way of life on the climatic stakes.

In Ribeauvillé, the situation was visually spectacular, but it is not exceptional in view of what we have observed for several years.

Thus, for this year, we note rather mild or even hot average temperatures with intense and especially early heat peaks. During the hottest days, the solar radiation led to marked burns on the grapes.
With approximately 180 mm of rain over the months of May to August, we end up with values that are barely lower than those we had experienced in previous vintages: 222 mm over the same months on average from 2015 to 2020. What struck the spirits are especially the long episodes without rain generating landscapes burned by the sun. The rain falls around July 20 and in the week of August 15 were life-saving for the vines. A few stigmas remain visible: a smaller size of the berries in the vines located in soils that do not retain water and generally quite thick skins.

The predominantly clay-limestone soils of Ribeauvillé nevertheless constituted an asset due to their water retention capacity.

In addition, the fairly windy conditions of the last few months contributed to the drying out of the soil but also allowed the vineyard to remain healthy in the very rainy weeks.

Finally, our management of the vineyard in organic viticulture constitutes a real asset for this spectacular vintage. The weediness present in our vines has ruined any hope for our vines to find water and nutrients on the surface. The root system the vines developed now makes them much more independent from the weather of the vintage. This grass cover also greatly reduces surface heating. The life of the soil is thus much better preserved.

We are therefore moving towards an early vintage, with a superb sanitary condition and good maturities.

Tuesday, September 6, 2022
A few drops of rain in the morning quickly give way to a beautiful sunny day with temperatures approaching 30°C. A summer day so…
We run the team in beautiful plots of Pinot Blanc and Auxerrois in order to be able to produce fresh and balanced wines. With an average degree measured on the grapes of the different plots of 12%, the balance will be there. In the press, what is notable is the slightly tannic character of the musts. It's a safe bet that this year again, the tannins will greatly contribute to the structure of the wines.

Wednesday, September 7, 2022
Another beautiful day. Summer lingers. The showers arrive around 6 p.m. No impact for the team nor the grapes.
We harvest the plots of Chardonnay intended for Crémant d'Alsace, then continue in the Pinot Blanc and Auxerrois in the Weinbaum vineyardsbetween Ribeauvillé and Bergheim. The idea is to shelter as much Pinot as possible before the rainy episode announced for the weekend. The alarmist forecasts announcing a complicated week have not yet been confirmed in practice. We will see for the future…

Thursday, September 8, 2022
11mm of rain overnight. We escaped the flood! This rainfall is beneficial to the Riesling parcels that are still “working”.
This rainy night brought down the temperatures so that with the return of the sun during the day, the conditions become ideal. Ideal for teams but also ideal for the grapes.
Given the morning humidity, we concentrate in the morning on the small plots of Auxerrois and Pinot Blanc which generally make us “waste time”. We attack the large plots later in the day.
The Pinot Blancs plots come in between 12.2 and 12.5% ​​which is ideal. Auxerrois are between 13.5 and 14% potential alcohol.

Friday, September 9, 2022
Surprise weather on this Friday day! An unexpected downpour will remind us that weather forecasts should be taken with a grain of salt. The rest of the day will be pleasant, with moderate temperatures.
Change of color, we switch to Pinot Gris starting in the Grand Cru Kirchberg de Ribeauvillé. We have a very precise idea of ​​the balance to be achieved for this wine between alcohols, residual sugars and acidity. The samples taken on the plot lead us to believe that it is time. Luckily the Grand Cru is harvested just before the downpour that no one saw coming!
We end the day in Pinot Gris under the Grand Cru Osterberg.
At this stage, and after a short week of harvesting, we can make a few observations:
The sanitary state of the grapes withstood the last rains very well. The fact of working on vines with reduced vigor is no stranger to this.
The maturities are perfect and evolve slowly. This gives us time to harvest at the right time.
The extraction rates (the number of liters of must obtained per kg of grapes – in general it takes around 1.3kg of grapes to obtain one liter of juice) are correct despite the hot and dry summer. This shows once again that vines established in vineyard terroirs know how to implement strategies to withstand climatic hazards.
The acidities are not monstrous, but only the winegrowers and a few professionals in the sector will complain. The less specialized consumer does not necessarily seek sharp acidities. Everything is a question of balance and in these sunny vintages we can also count on the tannins to compensate for the lower acidities.

Monday, September 12, 2022
The weekend was quite sunny.
This new day starts under a starry sky. The temperatures are therefore cool but do not take long to rise to approach 30°C again.
We take advantage of the relative freshness in the morning to climb to the upper parts of the hills where we own large plots of Auxerrois. These plots are among the steepest on the estate, along with those of the Grand Cru Kirchberg and the single vineyard Grossberg. The afternoon will be devoted to Auxerrois from the Streng, oriented to the north and generally very ripe. The hillsides will bring us freshness via the acidity, the power will come from the lower plots of the Streng.

Tuesday, September 13, 2022
Another beautiful autumn day with temperatures approaching 30°C.
We are finishing the Pinot Gris in the Alsace appellation. They are in perfect health and maturity level. After pressing we find a beautiful purity in the musts.
The afternoon will see us in the plots of Muscat. We don't want to reach the level of overmaturity. Indeed, this is harmful to the specific aromas of this grape variety. We want to produce a fresh, fruity and “crunchy” Muscat. It should be noted that those of the plot in Haguenau de Bergheim with clayey soils suffered more from the lack of water than those of the plot of Ribeauvillé located under the Grand Cru Osterberg. These Muscat will be de-stemmed and macerated on the skin in order to extract the aromas present in the skins of this grape variety. A light pressing will then follow to avoid any "inelegance" in the wine.

Wednesday, September 14, 2022
2mm of rain overnight. The rains were much less heavy than expected and allowed us to get out.
Nevertheless, given the morning ambient humidity, we are activating B plan “wet conditions”. During these days we forbid ourselves any intervention on the wines of terroirs, the great Cuvées as well as the noble grape varieties and try to take the plots of small surface requiring frequent displacements. The day will therefore see us in the small plots of Sylvaner. In the afternoon the harvest will be cut short following a heavy downpour of rain (6 mm)

Thursday, September 15, 2022
The weather is complicated in this new day. Rains arrive at the end of the night, making any outing difficult to say the least. Difficult for the team, difficult for the grapes that we prefer to harvest dry and also, let's not forget, difficult for the soils that we risk packing down. We prefer to shift our outing to mid-morning to avoid precipitation and let the foliage and soil dry out. Again it is plan B “wet conditions” which is activated and allows us, between two showers, to bring in what we have left of the Sylvaner plots.
We are coming out of two difficult days, but satisfied. We have been able to limit the effects of wet conditions by preserving the team, the grapes and the soil. This allowed us to advance what is necessary given the progression of maturities which seems to want to accelerate.
Now we and beautiful and pleasant team can start thinking about going in the plots of terroir wines and Grands Vins... The drier and sunnier weather conditions seem to want to calm down by becoming cooler, which will preserve the grapes.

Friday, September 16, 2022
The weather is stabilizing. Beautiful day with some clouds but also beautiful periods of sunshine in the afternoon with the return of the wind. It's cooler.
We harvest Trottacker. This terroir located near the Grand Cru Osterberg allows the grapes to ripen well without water stress in general. The wines are generally quite rich but with a nice frame of acidity for a pleasant balance.
Then comes the Cuvée Ribeauvillé. It comes from Pinot Blanc located on the Grand Cru Kirchberg de Ribeauvillé. This variety cannot be claimed as a Grand Cru. The wines produced are extremely immediate, pleasant and racy.
This week, which was going to be very complicated from the point of view of the weather, was negotiated very well. Certainly there is always an element of luck when making decisions dependent on weather conditions, but the prediction tools are of great use to us. By combining independent models, different approaches (predictions vs radar maps) and our experience of local conditions, it is possible to minimize the risks of ending up with the whole team having to harvest in the rain. Given the lack of precipitation, the few showers that fell are completely normal. Their moderate character is a big chance! We have not progressed as quickly as hoped, but the team has set itself up well, has expanded and is working in a good atmosphere. It is a great pleasure.
The grapes meanwhile continue to ripen slowly so that everything has been brought in to the desired levels of ripeness. The coming week will be cool and sunny. It's promising...

Monday, September 19
We are back to pruning after a calm but cool weekend.
This morning the temperatures dropped to 8°C. They will rise to around 22°C during sunny periods. A pleasant day then. No precipitation. The wind swept away the residual humidity.
100% day in the Pinot Noir plots. The pips are very brown, the skins are ripe. The state of health is impeccable. The few marks of burns due to the sun are eliminated in the vineyard. The juices from the berries begin to turn red. The phenolic and technological maturities are therefore reached. After destemming, the grapes are macerated to allow the pigments present in the skins to be extracted. In this sunny vintage we should be able to release beautiful red wines…

Tuesday, September 20, 2022
It is always very cool in the morning (7°C) but sunny afterwards. A perfect day for harvesting.
Pinot Noir is still relevant. For the first year, we have a significant harvest on our young plot in Jungholtz. For this parcel we have a project for a Grand Vin Rouge de Terroir. We have tried to put the odds on our side: by choosing a planting density of more than 8300 vines per hectare, we increase competition between the root systems of the different vines, which forces them to explore deeper layers. This high density also makes it possible to carry a small quantity of grapes per vine. We have also chosen to use only massal selections from various origins for our vinestocks but also various types of rootstock. In total there are more than 20 different modalities present on the plot. This should allow for multi-faceted expression. Three barrels will be produced to start this new cuvée. In order to better understand the expression of this wine, we will only use the most neutral barrels possible, excluding any new barrels.

Wednesday, September 21, 2022
The weather remains stable: chilly in the morning and pleasant during the day. These conditions allow perfect preservation of the sanitary state of the grapes while containing botrytis cinerea in its noble form if necessary.
We devote ourselves all day to the Steinacker. We are mainly on a gravelly soil with an average water retention capacity. These foothills are quite often subject to morning humidity allowing botrytis to develop under the "noble" form. The result is a rich, open, expressive and very “comfortable” wine on the palate. A consensual wine.

Thursday, September 22: trilogy
6°C this morning, but with the anticyclonic conditions the sun didn't take long to raise the temperatures. The conditions are magnificent with a sky of great purity.
Three of our great terroirs of great whites are on the menu today:
Hagel: geology of very old rocks, the oldest in Europe, crystalline rocks (the only ones in Ribeauvillé), I am talking about the Gneiss and Granites located under the spurs of the castles of Ribeauvillé. This vineyard is strongly subjected to the katabatic winds so characteristic of Ribeauvillé. A good way to refresh the nights and thus preserve the acidity of the grapes. A wine whose mouthfeel is unique in Ribeauvillé by its linear, incisive, tracing character. A geometric shape to represent it: an arrow.
At the same time, the rest of the team is working on one of our plots in the heart of the Grand Cru Osterberg. Marl-limestone soils with the presence of dolomie. A slightly cooler climate due to the southeast orientation. In these sedimentary soils, and always subject to cool night winds, the wines are expressed in width but also in length with a fairly “rustic” acidity. For the geometric shape, one can imagine an inverted T or a Christmas tree to illustrate the tendency of this wine to go in two directions of the plane.
We end the day in the Steinacker where we were already yesterday. This wine would be rather spherical due to the oily character induced by the few grapes often affected by botrytis.
Three very emblematic terroirs of Ribeauvillé located a stone's throw from each other, three touches of mouth to illustrate the magical side of local wines...

Friday, September 23, 2022
Another very nice day in terms of weather conditions.
The program for the day is simple: finish the Steinacker, which will be done!

A small milestone:

The weather conditions remain almost unexpected. Given the moderate rainfall at the start of the year, we could fear a catch-up, at least partial, during these weeks of harvest. For the moment, the rainfall has been very reasonable and has had almost no impact on the course of the harvest, neither in the process nor in the quality aspect.

From a human point of view, we are lucky to have a motivated team, interested in our approach and very pleasant.

Finally, on the side of wines whose style is beginning to emerge: We are moving towards a consensual vintage, which will appeal to a wide range of wine lovers and which can be enjoyed quite quickly.

The weekend is quite beautiful with mostly sunshine and a few very rare showers.

Monday, September 26, 2022
A shower in the night will bring some morning humidity quickly evacuated thanks to the moderate wind of the early morning.
In the series of terroir wines, it is now the turn of Muehlforst. On its Muschelkalk limestones, it brings us structured wines whose expression is between Hagel and its vertical and incisive side and Steinacker with its more spherical mouthfeel. In the case of Muehlforst we are dealing with a broad acid structure (sedimentary terroir), combined with a fruity expression from the mid-palate.

A geometric shape: a horizontal plate that has difficulty entering the mouth and gives the impression of spreading the cheeks.

Tuesday, September 27, 2022
The day is punctuated by a few showers separated by beautiful hot and sunny periods.
We are taking advantage of these unstable conditions to recover our Gewurztraminer from the foothills plots. These largely ripe grapes (14°6 at the press) are thus sheltered from the starlings which are beginning to roam these areas.

Wednesday, September 28, 2022
The weather conditions are too degraded and do not allow us to go out without risking compacting the soil. This break is used to get up to date, in the cellar, in the harvesting room and on the side of the viticultural equipment to be able to continue in good conditions.

Thursday, September 29, 2022
Back to calmer conditions with the sun in the morning.
We are adding a new version of our Hagenau this year focusing only on the part planted mainly with Riesling.
Our Hagenau plots are based on bedrock made up of marl and clayey conglomerate from the Oligocene. On the surface are clayey-sandy limestone loams becoming more stony in some places. The underlying limestone rock, fissured or conglomerate, constitutes an important water reserve. Its structure and stoniness promote root penetration. If they are sometimes difficult to till, these soils are however very resistant to erosion. Oriented strongly to the east, it takes advantage of the morning sunshine. At the press I am immediately surprised by the structure of the wine which reminds methe palate of Muehlforst. To be confirmed when we taste the wine.
The rest of the day will be spent in the last parcels of Riesling in the Alsace appellation.

Friday, September 30, 2022
Gray day but overall dry.
We continue the “tour” of the Gewurtraminer on the strip of hills between Bergheim and Ribeauvillé to finally end the day in the Pinot Gris of the Grand Crus Osterberg.
The weekend will be busy with the devatting of the Pinot Noir and the preparation of next week which looks promising in terms of weather conditions. Still to be confirmed.

Monday, October 3, 2022
Early night rainfalls left some early morning humidity that will quickly disappear on the beautiful sunny day.
We start in Rotenberg. This single vineyard located at the foot of the hills on clay-limestone containing iron oxides which give a beautiful red color to the soil, hence the name "red hill", allows us to produce beautiful expressive, complex wines whose richness is well balanced by limestone.
We then move to the Gruenspiel hill which overlooks the wine route between Ribeauvillé and Bergheim. This parcel of old vines on heavy soils gives us ample, complex and elegant wines.

Tuesday, October 4, 2022
The good weather is well established.
We are tackling the Grand Cru Osterberg whose old plots of Gewurztraminer and Riesling are now very ripe. Some clusters show the onset of botrytis which will give fat and aromatic complexity to the wines.

Wednesday, October 5, 2022
Another beautiful day with a noticeable rise in temperatures.
We choose this day to tackle the Grand Cru Kirchberg, the flagship of our wine range. Very often this Grand Cru is harvested in the last days of the harvest. This very sunny, but cool and ventilated terroir needs time to ripen its grapes. This long period of maturation associated with the coolness of the nights is favorable to the expression of the complex aromas while sparing the acidities. At the level of the geometric representation of the wine, I retain for my part the image of the pear with a wine which starts wide in the mouth and which, during the tasting, tends to tighten to arrive on the freshness and the salinity of the finish symbolized by the tail of the pear. The maturity of the grapes is just perfect to achieve the desired balance. It should be noted that, in general in our vineyards this year, the maturities have generally progressed in a regular manner without a sudden increase. It was thus possible to pick the majority of the grapes at the right time.

Thursday, October 6, 2022
A light veil can temper the heat of the sun on this new beautiful day.
For this last day of the “dry” wine harvest, we climb on the Grossberg, the vineyard where we produce a red wine with great aging potential. It is located between the Vosges and the Grand Cru Kirchberg. Its geology is complex with a mixture of limestone, sandstone and clay. The striking factor for this terroir is its great aeration by winds from two valleys. The grapes, just like on the Grand Cru Kirchberg, ripen slowly, while maintaining a perfect sanitary condition due to the constant winds. The wines from this terroir are structured red wines that can be kept for a long time with an optimum tasting which is around the age of 10 years.
The end of the day will allow us to bring in a plot of Pinot Gris which has reached the level required for a Vendange Tardive.

At this point we take a break. Two parcels of Gewurztraminer remain and the grapes show signs of noble rot. We will see how these grapes will evolve with the hope of being able to bring them to the Vendanges Tardives or even Sélection de Grains Nobles level. More in a few days…