Les Champs des Fleurs VdF 2024

Les Champs des Fleurs 2024 is a dry Riesling that draws its energy from acidity and salinity rather than weight. Pale straw yellow with greenish hues, its nose offers lime, grapefruit and white blossom, underscored by a chalky note. At 12.0% ABV, the wine stays lean and lively.

The 3.5 hectares lie in Zellenberg between Riquewihr and Ribeauvillé, on Jurassic limestone marl. Jolene Hunter and Paul McKirdy took over the plots from Marc Tempé and work them entirely by hand, with 14,000 vines per hectare and an average vine age of 45 years.

Single-varietal Riesling. Harvest timing is determined by pH 3.2 rather than sugar levels. The grapes are gently pressed for eight hours in a hydraulic wooden press, a technique originating in Champagne that McKirdy perfected over fourteen years as cellar master at Zind-Humbrecht. The must ferments spontaneously in old Burgundy barrels, with no added sulphur and no further oenological aids.

Dry, lean, linear. Green apple and citrus carry the mid-palate, the acidity stays taut, and the finish is saline and chalky. A Riesling with no padding, its structure laid bare.

Vin de France instead of Alsace AOC, a Burgundy bottle instead of the slender flute: both deliberate choices against regional convention. Hunter, formerly export manager at Zind-Humbrecht, and McKirdy have worked under their own name since 2023 and cap the estate's production at a maximum of 25,000 bottles a year.