Our family PIERRE FRICK, linked to the vineyard for several generations, cares 12 hectares of vines. Six people take care of the many tasks: care of the soil, the vines and their environment, vinification and aging in lightning, bottling, packaging, marketing (vault, trade shows, export), written communications and reception of many wine lovers. Around 20 harvesters are added in the fall for the harvest.
The vines are divided into about thirty parcels, on a mosaic of a dozen soils dominated by limestone, distant at the extremes of 15 km. These viticultural soils, located on fracture zones of the Rhine collapse ditch, are very diversified by their soil and their exposure and reflect their character in the wines: places Bergweingarten, Rot Murlé, Bihl, Stein, Strangenberg, Lerchenberg, Krottenfues (Career). The Grands Crus Steinert, Vorbourg and Eichberg are the most personalized.
The parcel fragmentation of our vineyard is a wealth. Our many Alsatian grape varieties choose their specific place depending on the soil and the exhibition. We can thus raise each year 25 to 30 singular cuvées. But this parcel fragmentation requires much more work time than a single clos. Indeed each site has its own dynamics according to the history, soil, climatic conditions and constraints related to its configuration - and thus requires specific care.
Only the grapes from the parcels that we look after are vinified, bottled and marketed by the estate.
Since 1970 our vines are conducted in organic farming, which excludes the use of herbicides, fertilizers and synthetic chemical treatments. Our production is certified by ECOCERT. In 1981 we took the path of BIODYNAMY, which places agriculture in a broader field of forces. We wish to increase the vitality of soils, vines, grape juice and wines, with harmonious work in the cellar. Our wines bear the mention DEMETER.
The qualities of salinity and depth of a wine, as well as its energy level, depend on the vine and its rooting in a living soil. Seedlings of annual companion plants (especially legumes) aerate the soil, enriching it with organic matter and microbial life. This assimilates to the roots of the vine all the minerality of the soil, which thus dissolves in the sap, and migrates towards the bunches. So that the energy of this vine, that is the vine, is entirely available to resist the various stresses (meteorology and parasites) and to bring to maturity its woods and its fruits, we do not kidnap the vines in summer. We weave them at the top of the trellis and avoid multiple wounds to the vine to heal. We keep intact the apices (terminal buds) that have a hormonal role of regulation for the plant. It also results in a more organic and warm aesthetic of the vine until winter when it is devoid of leaves.
The picking and manual sorting of the grapes is spread over 4 to 5 weeks. The clusters harvested are pressed whole, without crushing, sometimes macerated a few days. Juices are not sulphited and ferment with their native yeasts. They remain the reflection of their origin.
They are not enriched by adding sugar (chaptalization) or by subtraction of water (reverse osmosis or boiling under vacuum). Acidity is not corrected. The wines do not undergo bonding. They are simply withdrawn (separated from the first sediments of fermentation). Aging on fine lees takes place for 6 to 9 months in oak barrels. During this slow gestation, without the impediment of added sulphites, the wine remains free in its natural way of mineralization. In the end, it tastes like a "pure vegetable water". But this step requires constant monitoring, punctuated by ventilation of the cuvées when an imbalance affects their microbial life. The bottling is the ultimate step that can ruin all the respect given to the young wine during its breeding. We do not use a provider, which would force us to concentrate this work over 2 to 3 days and to resort to sterile filtration. On the contrary, we distribute the traffic jams over several weeks according to the evolution of the wines and on favorable dates (calendar of the planets and the tides). Each year some vintages are bottled without filtration. The others are filtered only on cellulose plate on the day of the bottling, to better preserve their integrity. Our ideal is bottling without the addition of sulphite to obtain "pure wines", which represent 90% by volume of our current farms.
The emergence of vibrant and vibrant wines as works of art, each unique and unrepeatable, is the culmination of this long artisanal work, from the vineyard floor to the winery. The patience granted to the breeding of these wines is returned to us by their longevity in bottles. Their tasting requires availability: "Take time and give time to wine". A vintage, which has evolved in the limited volume of the bottle, is released in the space of a glass and in contact with the air ... Let's hatch the alchemy of its aromas and its flavors, like a butterfly comes out of a chrysalis ...
