The geological specificity of Winzenberg communicates vivacity to the wines as well as a crystalline purity perceptible during all tasting phases.

After some years, Riesling especially develops all the mineral and crystalline complexity of granite.

Wine specificities

Riesling is undoubtedly the grape variety which is best suited for this terroir.

Aromas of citrus fruit (lemon, grapefruit …) and exotic fruit (passion fruit, pineapple …) in its youth. After 3 to 4 years, it develops a much more mineral aromatic pallet (hydrocarbons) while preserving the freshness and fruitiness of its youth.

A direct and taut attack on the mouth. Its roundness then appears on the middle mouth and counterbalances the freshness of the attack. A straight and mineral thread, particularly perceptible on the finish, contributes to accentuating the aromatic persistence. Riesling from this cru are the exact archetype of gastronomic wines.

Key words: dry, minerality. A ripe acidity must be the backbone.

Pinot Gris tends to evolve onto marvellous smoky notes and keeps a lot of freshness in the mouth.

Gewurztraminer, exotic and exuberant in its youth, develops spicy fragrances (cinnamon, ginger) after 2 to 3 years. For about ten years now, more and more wine-makers are discovering the subtleties of this grape variety. The last wine-tastings revealed the high level and exemplary homogeneity for a Grand Cru.

The variety's main virtues: aromatic elegance, complex balance.

Key words: finesse, subtlety, elegance, exoticism.

The terroir link increases with the age of the vines.

Vintage years

Riesling: dry, gastronomic wines . Often discreet in their youth, they reach their peak between 3 to 5 years. Their ageing potential is between 10 to 15 years, still keeping an astonishing freshness.

Gewurztraminer : sweet aperitif and dessert wines. Pleasurable wines which particularly express their exoticism and aromatic complexity in their youth (up to 5 years).

The leading vintage years where the terroir was best expressed are 2002, 2007, 2010.

Wine and food pairing

Riesling coming from this Grand Cru is the exact archetype of gastronomic wines. Perfectly suited for fresh and authentic dishes (carpaccios of scallops, fish, crabs, sea urchins, sushi …) and wonderfully enhance the salty character of fish and crustaceans.

Location

The 19 hectares of this Grand Cru are located on two hillsides facing south and south-east, separated by a small valley. Here the Rhine fault-line overlies the Vosges fault-line. The grapes ripen on a steep-sloped hillside overlooking the village of Blienschwiller.

Soil

The homogeneous terroir of Winzenberg is composed of a two-mica and siliceous granite, relatively rich in quartz and not very deep, between 30 and 50 cm. The granite rock shows on the surface in certain places. It’s a soil which heats quickly, notably due to the local microclimate properties. As a result, wine-growers must carefully monitor the vines during drought periods and vine-vigour must be controlled to avoid excess yields which are harmful to the quality of these Grand Cru wines.

The steep slopes of Winzenberg make it difficult to work in the vineyard and increases the risk of erosion and washout. On this terroir, ground cover control is essential. At the bottom of the hill, some more clayey areas are ideal for Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris.

Microclimate

Winzenberg is a relatively late-ripening, sunny and dry terroir.

This is also why there are very few diseases here as powdery mildew is easy to control. It’s rare to see botrytis and there is also no attempt to have it develop.

Grape varieties

These granite terroirs contribute to the flourishing of beautiful Riesling but Gewurztraminer is also successfully grown on these famous ancient slopes.

Heritage transmission

Very early on, Winzenberg attracted wine lovers as well as the Sélestat-born humanist Martin Ergersheim. In 1530 and 1531, he amassed wine annuities from Dambach-la-Ville and Blienschwiller. Among them at Saint-Matthieu in 1531 with two aumes of noble wine from two parcels in the Winzenberg.

The name Winzenberg derives from the Latin word vinētum translated into German as Weingarten: quite simply, the place where vines are planted. Vinetum was regularly shortened to win(t)z in German. So Winzenberg must date back to the Gallo-Roman period. The nuns who already appeared very early on in this village history from the abbeys of Sainte-Croix de Niedermünster, at the foot of the Mont Sainte-Odile or from Andlau, perpetuate this tradition.

The Winzenberg is a place, or perhaps THE place planted with vines, the best place to produce wine in Blienschwillerons and the surrounding area... The monks knew their terroirs and perfected the art of wine-making throughout the centuries – just like they transmitted their know-how to Blienschwiller wine-makers.

Either way, whether you take the Gallo-Roman theory or the medieval one, you have a beautifully simple, toponymical explanation for the Grand Cru designation. Winzenberg produces not only great wines but also a wide variety of flora, including the Star-of-Bethlehem and the St. Bernard's lily, to name just two examples. Enough to give some weight to this citation from a Dambach-la-Ville wine-maker:

"Looking towards Winzenberg, I cannot imagine there was ever anything else but vines there."

From Lieux-dits à Blienschwiller, Nothalten and Zell : Elements of micro-toponymy

By Jean-Christophe Meyer

Winzenberg, poem by Jean-Christophe Meyer, Blienschwiller:

At first glance the granite is cold. A radiant quartz glaze, black and white touches of mica, to which pinkish glimmers of feldspar are enthusiastically blended.
When touched it’s the same. Almost makes you shiver. The stone is rough. When touched, it’s the same. Rugged, resembling crystals hastily assembled by an unskilled blacksmith.
But it’s in this stone that the Winzenberg Grand Cru draws all its finesse and elegance. Prince-like, between the small village of Blienschwiller, prince-like throughout all the successive seasons and centuries.
The granite is cold. But helped by the slope, the rock almost surfaces. Yes, often even the parent rock emerges, and facing the south it soaks up all the sun, precious ally which generously unleashes its burning sunrays over the glimmering Winzenberg hillsides.
From this hillside, the Grand Cru.
Issued from the lineage of the mother rock and father sun,
the vineyard, the daughter with knotted vine stocks and arms filled of fruit…
The wine,
From this perfect union, intensified by the wise patience of caring wine-growers,
from the budding to the silver-like trunk which wakes up for the ballet from the dead leaves of autumn...
The wine,
Issued from all these mysteries accumulated on the Winzenberg hill,
From this very ancient alchemy hidden at the back of Blienschwiller cellars.
To unveil all its finesse, all its elegance,
Winzenberg requires
Many years of sleeping.
To honour the wines,
And compensate the wait.

Beloved vineyards and land

The mineral and crystalline complexity of granite is expressed even more finely in the wines where the soil was respected. For several years now, most producers have been working with a deep sense of environmental respect for their terroir:

• no residual weedkillers,
• no anti-botrytis products,
• no conventional insecticides.