Riesling Roche Granitique 2019

A Riesling whose tension comes from high acidity and salty minerality: dry, 12.5% vol., with a fruit profile ranging from lemon through lime to young pineapple.

The vines stand in the Grand Cru Brand near Turckheim and just below it, planted in the 1990s and in 2001. The Granite de Turckheim is a biotite granite rich in black mica, which bacteria and microorganisms break down all the way to clay. Carried by rainwater, this fine clay migrates deeper, fixes minerals and, in this airy soil, keeps water available for the roots. The climate of these sites is early and warm, and the Riesling from here is often the first picked at the estate.

Pure varietal Riesling, farmed biodynamically across the estate's 42 hectares. The 2019 grapes were very healthy and had surprisingly high acidity, which slowed fermentation: this wine was among the last of the vintage to finish. At least six months on the lees and one to two years of cellar ageing are standard practice at the estate.

This wine needs air. After decanting, notes of citrus fruit, orange, apricot and young pineapple emerge, along with fresh ginger and lemongrass. The palate is precise, the acidity lively, the salty minerality remarkably present, lending the wine an umami edge. Fruit sweetness, salinity and freshness are held in balance.

Scallop salad with orange-wakame salad, veal ragout with sage and apricots or Jerusalem artichoke fries with salted lemon and camelina oil mayonnaise and sauerkraut with carrots.

Olivier Humbrecht was the first Frenchman to hold the title Master of Wine; the Humbrecht family has been making wine since 1620, and since 2019 Pierre Émile Humbrecht has joined as the eleventh generation. Yields range from 30 to 40 hectolitres per hectare. Serve in large glasses.