The Vineyard Sources and their Wines

The Clos des Capucins is planted with all of the varieties allowed for AOC Alsace. The domaine sources most of its Muscat and about half of its Pinot Noir from this 5 hectare vineyard. It is also the sole source for four of the wines for Domaine Weinbach. The Sylvaner Réserve is a glorious Sylvaner, and I found a 1996 in my basement recently that was still going strong, which flies in the face of conventional wisdom about Sylvaner. Other wines from the Clos include the Riesling Cuvée Théo and Gewurztraminer Cuvée Théo, and also the sole source of the late-November-picked Pinot Gris Cuvée Ste.-Cathérine. Each of these wines has good long-term potential, especially the Riesling which can age beautifully for fifty years or more.

The lieu-dit of Altenbourg, which abuts the Grand Cru Furstentum, produces Pinot Blanc and Muscat for the domaine's Réserve tier of wines, but it is mainly known for the Cuvée Laurence of both Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer. A continuation of this vineyard at the base of the hill (where it is no longer called Altenbourg) is the source of another pair of Cuvées Laurences in Gewurz and Pinot Gris.

The Grand Cru Furstentum is the source for another Cuvée Laurence of Gewurztraminer. The wine that Furstentum produces for Weinbach is at once a subtle and outrageously voluptuous Gewurztraminer. There are often sensational late-harvest wines (I once bought a Gewurztraminer Furstentum Cuvée Laurence Quintessence de Grains Nobles Carte d'Or, and the category it fit into was the mere (ha!) Sélection de Grains Nobles)

The domaine's parcel in the Grand Cru Mackrain is planted with Gewurztraminer, but I have not seen this wine, nor do I know if the estate owns or leases this plot.

A plot in the Grand Cru Mambourg, a recent acquisition, produces excellent, intensely exuberant Gewurztraminer for Weinbach.

The Grand Cru Schlossberg is the source for the other half of Weinbach's Pinot Noir production. But this vineyard is hardly known for its Pinot Noir. Riesling is the most favored variety on the slopes of the Schlossberg, and the domaine produces three (and occasionally more) extraordinary Rieslings from it. The first is the wine labeled "Riesling Schlossberg". The vines are planted in the shallow soils at the top of the Schlossberg and produce pure, tensile expressions of Riesling. The "Riesling Cuvée Ste.-Cathérine" comes from vines found at the bottom of the Schlossberg, where, already predisposed to make a more robust Riesling, the vines are also picked later, resulting in a much more corpulent wine. The "Riesling Schlossberg Cuvée Ste.-Cathérine" vines are planted in the middle of the Schlossberg hill, and yield--thanks to some very mature vines--an even richer expression of dry Riesling, combining power, balance, and grace all at once. And speaking of corpulence, in some vintages (but only since 1998) the estate has made a "Riesling Schlossberg Cuvée Ste.-Cathérine 'L'Inédit'", which usually has a slight amount of residual sugar, but it is still a dry wine within the confines of the "dry" category. For more info on this wine, click here.

Incidentally, the only wine that doesn't thrill me is the Pinot Noir, but I suspect that may just be a philosophical difference: I once read a quote from Madame Colette Faller who opined that Pinot Noir from Alsace (except from a few select sites, surely) is always light, and those who are trying to make Burgundy aren't respecting the Alsatian terroir. I would love to taste the 2003 Pinot Noir--I would imagine that it is more full-bodied...and full of terroir! Whatever is behind it doesn't matter much, because the estate's Pinot Noir is just fine, but I was not drawn to Alsace by Pinot Noir anyway.

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