The Top of the Fields - Jacques Bentz

Le Haut des Champs is the story of a young oenologist who chose to return to his native Vosges to establish a vineyard. After working all over France, I wanted to put my skills to work for my region and show that the Vosges also had something to say in the world of wine.

By 2025, Haut des Champs has 1.7 hectares of planted vines. Some will be on their fourth leaf and potentially will have their first year of production in 2026. By spring 2027, the entire vineyard should be planted, covering a total area of 2.5 hectares, for full production in 2032.

A first 100% Vosges vintage is being aged for this 2025 vintage. We had the opportunity to acquire a small vineyard of post-phylloxera hybrids.

In the middle of these vines graze Achilles, Hera and Gaia, three Kune Kune pigs who maintain the pastures as best they can.

Le Haut des Champs has also developed its wine merchant and producer business: every year, between 4,000 and 6,000 bottles leave the estate.

The "Besser Rivaou" range (Besser: "best" in Alsatian; Rivaou: "enemy" in Vosges) was also launched. This range of wines comes from 1.5 hectares leased in Alsace and is vinified in the Vosges.

Wine production

Since 2022, all the land within the estate has been immediately converted to organic farming. While this isn't particularly original or innovative, the label guarantees the exclusive use of natural products.

The young vines are planted at a spacing of 1.5 m × 1 m, resulting in a density of 7,500 vines per hectare: in our opinion, this is the right compromise between ease of work and competition between the vines. Three pages would not be enough to explain this choice.

Grass strips 6 m wide are left every five rows to promote biodiversity, create ecological niches and cut potential bridges for disease transmission.

In addition to this, we put our "living lawnmowers" out to pasture: the Kune Kune pigs, which maintain the vineyards in winter.

The planted grape varieties are only white grape varieties: Riesling, Savagnin and Chardonnay in qualitative massal selection, grafted in F2 (Hebinger nursery) on qualitative rootstock 3309 C.

For the remaining areas, the challenge is to replant historical Lorraine grape varieties. Alsatian viticulture, apart from the density, is closer to Burgundian viticulture: single Guyot training tied flat, severe bud thinning, and green harvesting to maximize aeration of the vine. This limits fungal pressure as well as yields. We are strong proponents of "good grapes, good wine," and for us, this means low yields and concentration.

In the cellar

The cool Vosges climate has its advantages: no need for refrigeration units or cold storage. One night in crates and it's ready for a cold pre-fermentation. All joking aside, the coolness of the harvest is a real boon. Long fermentations promote aromatic complexity; low temperatures limit bacterial or yeast spoilage. Factors that might seem daunting, but which, in our opinion, are conducive to producing beautiful wines.

The winery has taken up residence in an old family barn, 100 meters as the crow flies from the Vosges vineyards. A place which, after installing a few stainless steel tanks and some barrels, seems, thanks to its thick walls and old stones, to have always been a winery.

In the cellar, we intervene very little but remain extremely rigorous. My training as an oenologist forbids me from letting a batch deteriorate: if necessary, 1 or 2 g/hL of SO2 is acceptable. All the wines spend 18 months in barrels; the two winters allow them to stabilize optimally.