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Domaine Kreydenweiss, Alsace
Marc and Emmanuelle Kreydenweiss
We have known and loved Marc’s Alsace wines for many years. The domaine is based in the village of Andlau in the Bas Rhin, and as with Marc’s wine from the south, the vineyards are worked on bio dynamique principles.
Marc has around twelve hectares, including three Grand Cru sites. The vines are grown in the traditional Alsace plantation of around 5,000 vines per hectare. The grapes are all hand harvested, selected, and crushed in a bladder press. Natural yeasts control the fermentation, which is in Vosges oak foudres.
The Grand Cru Kastelberg is amongst the best Grand Cru sites; only Riesling is grown on the small Cru, based on a formation of Schiste de Steige, schistous slate unique in Alsace. The wine is very fine, with mineral aromatic flinty aromas and flavours, and firm acidity which ensures the wine’s longevity. The oldest vines here are 60 years old, and yields are very low. This is one of Alsace’s finest Rieslings.
Grand Cru Wiebelsberg is on an adjacent slope to Kastelberg, but with a totally different soil formation, and producing a very different style of wine. Vosges sandstone gives a more “feminine” floral, aromatic, gentle style of Riesling; more approachable in its youth, softer and more supple in style. Marc’s holdings on the
Grand Cru Moenchberg were planted in 1984, and the wine, from Pinot Gris, is soft, peachy, smoky and delicious even in its youth.
The
Muscat Clos Rebgarten is soft, floral, dry and grapey, with the sensation
of biting into fresh muscat grapes. The Lerchenberg Pinot Gris has peach
blossom, floral spicy notes, dry, elegant, with a hint of acidity, already
delicious. The Kritt Gewurztraminer is light, with rosewater and lychee
perfume, dry and grapey.
The Clos du Val d’Eléon is a steep vineyard of decomposed shale, which produces a fine blend of Riesling and Pinot Gris, combining the mineral acidity of the Riesling with the rich peachy and apricot flavours of the Pinot
Gris.
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