Weinbach Grand Cru Schlossberg Riesling 2022

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

“With the Grand Cru Schlossberg Cuvée Ste-Catherine in my glass, for a moment I become lost in the memories of earlier vintages poured in this room… then we taste back through some of those earlier vintages, and I find the wines acquire a filigree with age, which makes their beauty seem timeless.”

Stuart Pigott, Best White Wine on Earth: The Riesling Story

The Schlossberg hill has long been revered as one of the world’s most outstanding Riesling vineyards. It’s a granitic outcrop that rises north of Kaysersberg and Kientzheim to an altitude of 230-350 metres. The quality of Schlossberg’s wines was established as early as the 15th century, and this was the first vineyard in Alsace to receive Grand Cru status in 1975. With their eight hectares, the Faller family are the largest landowners in Schlossberg. They craft an extraordinary series of Rieslings from the hill, parcellated and bottled according to vine age and altitude.

This wine was cropped from three of the family’s highest parcels of vines at the top of the slope (between 320 and 420m elevation). Here, the soils are shallow and rocky and, therefore, very mineral—with the eroded granite having a reddish tinge and high magnesium content. This combination of altitude, low-vigour soils and low yields is potent and gifts a deep but always very dry and mineral Riesling with an intense freshness to balance the wine’s flesh. The 2021 was raised in large old casks for 15 months.

About Domaine Weinbach

Tastebud Disrupting Gear

Weinbach is one of those Domaines that disrupts your palate, and redefines your perception of a region, a variety, a blend, a style.

Most Alsatian wines are made using a single variety, a relatively modern approach, from precise, tight, acid-driven, mineral wines, demanding time to resolve, to richer styles from further south and then more oxidative styles with phenolics adding texture.

Tasting through an array of Weinbach’s wine raised the level of delight to another level.

They inspire, they mesmerise.
Such purity, texture and effortless precision is rare.

It took me back to the first time I tried Marcel Deiss’ wines. Weinbach too has a number of field blends, taking us back to the approach of the past, to go with their varietal wines. They have dry wines, sweet wines and everything in between.

The consistently high standard across Weinbach’s entire range is impressive

At the foot of the majestic hill going by the name of Schlossberg, surrounded by vines and roses, lies Domaine Weinbach. Named after the little stream which runs through the property and planted with vines since the IXth century. It was established as a winery in 1612 by Capuchin friars. These vineyards, to this day surrounded by ancient walls, are specifically named Clos des Capucins. In addition to this, the estate’s history is well remembered through the image of a monk which fittingly adorns our labels.

After being sold as national property during the French revolution, it was acquired by the Faller brothers in 1898 who then left it to their son and nephew, Théo. Théo Faller was a prominent figure in Alsace winegrowing and an ardent defender of quality wine production. He developed, expanded and enhanced Domaine Weinbach. In 1979, Colette -Théo’s wife-, Catherine, Laurence Faller and their team pursued the family’s passion for the great wines of Alsace and its unrelenting commitment to delivering excellence.

Since 2016, Catherine has lead the estate winery with her sons, Eddy and Théo. Longstanding maître de chai, Ghislain Berthiot, revels in the phenomenal quality of fruit the Faller family give him to work with.

An anecdote once told by a wine writer when asking the late Johnny Hugel how Laurence Faller (sadly also departed) could unfailingly deliver such quality over such a range of styles, he asked, “How does she do it?”, Hugel immediately responded; “Oh, that’s easy. Every night she goes down to the winery when nobody is around, and she sprinkles some magic dust into every vat”. It’s a kind of magic that clearly runs in the family. Under the guidance of her two progressive-minded nephews, Théo and Eddy Lieber-Faller, the domaine’s wines have become even more incisive and refined. Put simply, these are wines that inspire and mesmerise. They remind us that, at its very best, Alsace can effortlessly match up to any region in the world for the quality of its wines.

In the Vineyard

Domaine Weinbach farms 32 hectares of vineyards, predominantly Grand Cru. The most famous terroir is the majestic Schlossberg hill, closely followed by the walled Clos de Capucins; a Weinbach fiefdom that lies around the house and its cellars. Put simply, Schlossberg is one of the greatest Riesling vineyards in the world; the quality of this very famous vineyard was well known as early as the fifteenth century. For this reason, it was the first vineyard in Alsace to receive the status of Grand Cru in 1975. The Weinbach Domaine owns eight hectares of this terroir. Another of the Fuller’s great terroirs is the monopole, Clos de Capucins. Taking its name from the Capuchin friars who arrived here in 1619, the Clos is at the bottom of a slope, well protected from winds by the surrounding hills. Its soils consist of sand, alluvium, granite gravel and pebbles. And we should not forget the majestic Furstentum Grand Cru which, in the gifted hands of the Faller family, produces some of the world’s most profound Gewürztraminer.

The purchase, in 2019, of six hectares once belonging to Domaine Gérard Fuchs has added more Grand Cru land to Weinbach’s granite-rich bow. The parcels—now in biodynamic conversion—include mature vines from within the Grand Crus of Mambourg, Mackrain and Kaefferkopf and a one-hectare block in Furstentum planted to Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Pinots Blanc and Gris. Yet the sale lot was not limited to Grand Cru terroir, and Weinbach has also picked up some choice parcels of villages-level vineyard, all lying within a four-kilometre radius of the winery in Kaysersberg.

They have farmed organically for some time; however, in the late 1990’s they began the conversion towards biodynamics, a move which was complete in time for the 2005 vintage. Only organic compost is used, and the high value placed on hand vineyard management means there is no recourse for anti fungal, or insecticides. Since conversion, we’ve noted incremental rise in minerality and freshness of the wines, alongside a higher clarity and depth of fruit. The wines have more body, tone and shape too. Quality is still the key, but the wines are somehow more pristine, with brilliant intensity. They glow with life on the palate, as if they have been lit from the back.

In the Winery

Vinification carefully respects and reflects each of our grapes’ own qualities and characteristics; minimal intervention but constant attention allows them to flourish and blossom. The key elements are first of all grapes which are harvested at optimal ripeness but also meticulous and thorough selections. The must is then extracted through gentle and progressive whole bunch pressing. This is followed by alcoholic fermentation in ancient oak casks, by native yeasts – which are factors of authenticity and complexity.

The 2022 Vintage at Domaine Weinbach

Eddy Leiber-Faller says that Alsace went “from record rain in 2021 to record drought in 2022.” This is especially hard in the steep, stony Schlossberg, where vines root in well-drained granite. “But luckily, on the 15th of August, we got 35mm of rain over the course of five to six hours. After that, it was still sunny but cooler, and this was providential.”

The Rieslings, he notes, did not shut down completely but “slowed down,” yet they are in their muscular yet statuesque top form in 2022. In this regard, they point to the resilience of old vines. The 2021 Pinot Noirs are elegant and marked by vivid freshness. Naturally, they are not as sumptuous as the 2020s but sinuous and elegant.

Where in the World is Domaine Weinbach?

Domaine Weinbach is located at the foot of the Schlossberg vineyard in the village of Kientzheim. They hold vineyards in the Grand Crus Schlossberg, Mambourg, the Lieu di Altenberg de Bergheim, Furstentum, Markrain and the Clos des Capucins.

Alsace is a relatively thin strip of vineyards in the northeast of France that over the years has swapped from French to German rule and back again many times. Vins Alsace has an excellent fully interactive map with several 360° views and breakdowns by vineyard, soil type and more.