Domaine Jean-Marc Bernhard
Riesling Wineck Schlossberg
 
Grand Cru
This is a small, family-owned property located in the foothills of the Vosges Mountains, just northeast of Colmar in the little burg of Katzenthal. They produce wine from Riesling, Tokay Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer grapes on their terroir of granite-based soils. The wines in general are crisp, clean, fruity and fragrant, and very well balanced with slightly lower alcohol levels (12-13%) than their more southerly neighbors. As most Alsatian vignerons, their wines, excepting the vendange tardive wines, are vinified dry.
 
The Wineck-Schlossberg Grand Cru vineyard produces wines from both the Riesling and the Gewurztraminer grapes but the Riesling truly shines here. Topped by the ruins of an ancient castle, the steeply sloped vineyards face south and southeast and are composed mainly of decomposed, mica-rich granite mixed with stones and clay. They are well protected by the high Vosges Mountains that guarantee a dry and warm microclimate.
 
 The wines produced from this terroir are noted for their rich expression of fruit and floral aromas with just enough underlying mineral notes to make the wines complex and immediately enjoyable. This Grand Cru Riesling wine shows all the qualities that one seeks in a great dry Riesling with the characteristic mineral notes well tamed by the exuberant fruit and floral aromas. Medium to full bodied, the flavors open up brightly on the palate with a long and generous finish.

Though quite approachable now, this wine can easily age for up to 10 years in a cool cellar for further development of its rich qualities.

Frederic & Jean-Marc in Cellar      Jean-Marc, Frederic & Jules
                                               3 generations of Bernhards

                             www.jeanmarcbernhard.fr
 

 

 


Chicago, Illinois