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Alsace is blessed with a number of truly fine estates. Most of them boast impressive histories dating back hundreds of years and are capable of producing sumptuously exotic wines that bear the unmistakable stamp of the region. But if you were to pick the one estate that captures the taste of Alsace more accurately and intensely than any of its neighbours, the odds-on favorite would surely be Zind-Humbrecht.
The Humbrecht family has been winegrowers in Alsace since 1620. For nearly four centuries they have been an important part of the rolling vinous landscape that borders France and Germany.
The winery came by its current name in 1959 when Leonard Humbrecht married Genevieve Zind. In the 1960s and 1970s Leonard was able to expand the winery’s collection of Grands Crus and other high quality vineyards as neighboring growers abandoned their difficult steep hillside sites and moved to the easier-to-farm but lower quality flatlands.
The winery itself is set in the heart of the Herrenweg vineyard along the main road between Colmar and Turckheim. It is managed by Leonard’s son Olivier Humbrecht, one of the only Alsace winemakers to attain M.W. status and a passionate and intelligent advocate for the wines of Alsace and the benefits of Biodynamic farming - the discipline established in 1924 in Germany by Rudolf Steiner.
One of the hallmarks of every Zind-Humbrecht wine is its overriding sense of terroir. Whether Gueberschwihr, Hengst, or Rotenberg, the taste of the vineyard is always clear and unmistakable. Every aspect of viticulture and winemaking is tailored to the belief that great wines are a reflection of place. To avoid the homogenization of styles taking place around the world Olivier has developed a regime based on Steiner’s teachings that includes low impact farming, organic composting, restricted yields, hand tending of the vines, native yeasts, and long slow fermentations on the lees in oak barrels rather than stainless steel tanks.
It’s this attention to detail that has made Zind-Humbrecht the archetype of its region and one of the world’s greatest wine producing estates. |
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| The Sorting Table, LLC 1700 Second St. Suite 380 Napa, CA 94559 (707) 603-1460 |
Content and Images ©2007 The Sorting Table, LLC. |
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