Description

Description

Dry, organic Alsace riesling with clean citrus and apple flavours. High acidity means this wine is very versatile with food. Great with goose, fish like trout and Chinese dishes.

Grape

Riesling is a white grape indigenous to Germany, but now widely grown in cool areas throughout the world. It can produce light to medium bodied wines (dependent on climate) and very high acidity allows it to make a spectrum of wines from bone dry, to off-dry to lusciously sweet dessert wines. It is a common misnomer that all Rieslings are sweet. Typical aromas are citrus, honey and floral.

Producer

This well regarded Alsace domaine is run by two brothers, Maurice and Jacky Barthelmé in the village of Wettolsheim, near Colmar. Maurice, who took over here in 1984, is married to the daughter of the late Albert Mann who gave his name to the domaine. It’s not a huge operation: they have 22 hectares in all, but five of these are in five different Grand Cru vineyards and a further two are in lieux-dits. The brothers each have their responsibilities, one in vineyard and one in cellar. Viticulture is organic and they have a minimal intervention approach in the cellar. These organic wines are clean as a whistle and very pure without a note of funkiness with direct fruit forward aromas and texture.

Region

Although 50 percent of Alsace’s wine is still made by cooperatives, the region remains the source of some of the world’s finest white wines. There are myriad reasons for this: its 47.5 degrees north latitude ensures high sunshine levels; its deep continental climate and diverse array of soil types; the cultural meticulousness of the local populace; and the choice of noble varieties such as Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer.

Food Pairing

With pure, restrained fruit flavours and very high acidity Riesling is an extremely versatile food wine working with fish, pork, poultry and cheeses.