Riesling Clos Häuserer 2022

A dry Riesling of slender, playful stature, carried by lively freshness and brilliant acidity. The clay content of the soil already lends it a certain roundness in its early years.

The Clos Häuserer is a small 1.2-hectare monopole at the foot of the hill below the Grand Cru Hengst in the commune of Wintzenheim. The parent rock is calcareous and dates from the Oligocene: limestone pebbles cemented in iron-rich sandstone, together with marl, known as conglomerate or coastal limestone. The topsoil here is particularly rich and somewhat more marl-laden, and the mix of coarse rock elements and fine particles makes the site highly drought-resistant.

In 1973, Léonard Humbrecht planted the Clos Häuserer entirely with Riesling. Today Olivier Humbrecht, the first Frenchman to hold the title of Master of Wine, farms the estate's 42 hectares biodynamically, since the conversion of the first five hectares in 1996. Yields stand at 30 to 40 hectolitres per hectare, and the wines rest on the lees for at least six months and spend one to two years in the cellar.

On the nose, lemon, lime, grapefruit and green apple over a cool, chalky note; after several hours in the decanter, ginger, anise, dry pastry, seashells and seaweed emerge. On the palate, brilliant acidity, a juicy backbone, a saline trace and fine bitterness keep the long finish appetising.

Gratinated oysters with grapefruit fillets, salt-crust beetroot with aged balsamic, quail breast and leg with rosehip, lemon, tarragon and poppy seed gnocchi.

Anyone opening the bottle now should decant it for several hours and pour it into a sufficiently large glass; over the course of a few days the wine gains further expression. The Humbrechts have been winegrowers since 1620, and since 2019 Pierre Émile Humbrecht has been working at the estate as the eleventh generation.