Muscat Classic 2014

Not a sweet wine as many people expect it to be, but a dry, crisp and grapey Muscat, full of aromas.

Exceptionally mild winter, with practically no frost. Very early budburst around 21 March led to 2 months of anxiety but finally no spring frost. Flowering began very early, around 30 May, which usually means an extremely precocious harvest like 2003, but was uneven and spread over 2 weeks, giving a little coulure especially on Gewurztraminer. In July and early August, record rainfall (147mm) and cool temperatures finally delayed maturity. A very dry September (27mm) without excessive heat ensured slow maturation under ideal conditions. Harvest began on 16 September and ended on 16 October. Yields were very low, lower even than 2013 or 2010. Perfectly healthy grapes, high acidity and superb maturity mean 2014 will be a hallmark vintage, especially for Riesling. Very small yield of late harvest Gewurztraminer VT.

This wine is partly composed of 2 young estate plots, including one on the Schoenenbourg planted with Muscat d'Alsace.
Harvested exclusively by hand from the very beginning of harvest to ensure perfectlt sound grapes and good natural levels of acidity.

After pressing, the must is decanted for a few hours, then fermented in temperature-controlled vats (at 18 to 24°C). The wine is racked just once, before natural clarification during the course of the winter. The following spring, the wine is lightly filtered just before bottling, and the bottles are then aged in our cellars until released for sale.
The whole production of this wine is closed with DIAM the cork without the risk of cork taint.