Quand le chat n'est pas là 2018

Domaine Rietsch, located in the charming village of Mittelbergheim as if captured from a children's fairy tale. It is much less touristic than other villages in Alsace so you can have it on your radar if planning to visit. An ancient family winery from the 17th century now ran by 7th generation Jean-Pierre Rietsch who explains their Organic and natural approach: "Our wines are made from grapes grown without chemistry. During harvesting, entirely manual, the grapes are sorted on the parcel and then pressed whole in order to avoid the effects of crushing. All our work on grapes and juices is done gently: the juices are extracted from the bunches in a pneumatic press at low pressure, over a long enough period, from 5 to 12 hours, so that the press acts already like a filter. This set of precautions is intended not to strip the juices of their substance. The musts are then aged in slow fermentation and natural, over a period of 5 to 24 months depending on the case, from their native yeasts that feed on the material preserved in the juice. No addition of sugar, no correction of acidity, no fining our interventions during the breeding is limited to the strict minimum, so as not to disturb the character of the wine and to allow him to better express its characteristics, varietal and terroir." Excellent quality wines.