Fantastically pure single-vineyard Pinot Noir. With a glassy sort of tension that binds pretty red fruits, perfume and spice. Grown over cooling limestone marl that drives the acid core of the wine, whilst allowing fragrant, aromatic elements to develop alongside a healthy ripeness.
There’s an uncanny flash of blood orange skin alongside those savoury, earthy red fruits and woody spices so typical of the grape. These all sit afloat something profoundly mineral and fine-grained. A beautifully expressive wine that reflects one of the many unique terroirs of the region.
The grapes went through carbonic maceration as whole bunches and one month later the juice was then pressed into old barrels to rest for a year before bottling with no additions at all.
Hubert & Heidi Hausherr, along with their long-serving draft horse Skippy, are working just shy of four hectares of vines around the leafy medieval village of Eguisheim.
In a region renowned for its diverse terroirs, the vines are dotted around in a number of small parcels over contrasting limestone marls and gréseux, the local compacted sandstone. These are beautiful vineyards with some of the vines planted by Hubert’s father back in the 1960s. As per tradition, many of these plantings are mixed, with varietals such as Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Auxerrois, Sylvaner and more all jumbled together, leading to many of the wines being harvested and vinified as field blends – multiple varietals expressing a single location.
Shadowed by the Vosges mountains to the west, despite its northerly position this is a very warm, dry microclimate with long, hot summers with little rain. The potential for high alcohol and a loss of balance in the wine requires careful vineyard work – the cooling marls are very useful for this, likewise big leafy canopies and a south-easterly aspect for morning sun and afternoon shade.
These glorious surroundings are undermined without respect for nature, so it follows that Hubert & Heidi are strong advocates for organic and biodynamic farming and are certified for both, as well as being part of the S.A.I.N.S. association for wine without additives. The soils are ploughed only by horse, and there are no inputs or manipulations in the cellar of any kind. They firmly believe this is the only way.
The cellar itself is a thing of beauty – the grapes are always pressed by hand and two manual, vertical wood-slat presses have been built by Hubert, both with striking mosaic-tiled bases that the juice runs off. Most wines begin their vinification as whole bunches in carbonic maceration, the aim being to achieve great finesse and lifted aromatics. After this stage the juice is raised in a mixture of amphora and old barrels until it is ready to be bottled.
Hubert & Heidi’s dedication has not been without its challenges – many producers in the region share the same climate-related stories and it is hard not to notice the connection between rising temperatures, earlier harvests and the resulting unpredictable behaviour of the wild yeasts. Often fermentations can stop before all of the sugar has been converted. Patience and resourcefulness are essential in these moments and we’re happy to say that in the face of adversity there are tiny quantities of stunning wine emerging from the cellar, whilst others shape themselves more slowly over time.
We were so taken with the clarity of the couple’s vision, their dedication to this small piece of land and their unwillingness to compromise. The wines dazzle in their fantastically pure expression, with sumptuous concentration, soaring aromatics and pitch-perfect balance. They are everything we look for in quality Alsatian wine.
