Lucas & André Rieffel

Like all the farms in the village of Mittelbergheim, the family estate practiced polyculture in the pre-war period. Julien Rieffel, Lucas' grandfather, began bottling and marketing with Sylvaner de Mittelbergheim in 1946. André Rieffel took over the estate in 1971 and gradually enlarged it, at the rate of various acquisitions, including a plot of Grand Cru Kirchberg de Barr in the 1980s. He produced his first Crémant d'Alsace in 1981. Lucas moved in 1996, shortly after acquiring plots of Grand cru Wiebelsberg in Andlau. He plants Pinot Noir in a place called Kreuzel (in the area of the Grand Cru Zotzenberg) in 2005. The 2012 vintage will be the first harvest certified AB (organic farming), after 3 years of conversion. The estate now has 10 hectares spread over the municipalities of Mitttelbergheim, Barr and Andlau, where we find the different great grape varieties of Alsace. Here we give the grapes time to ripen. We do not harvest before for a so-called tension. We put everything in one press. The whole bunches are left for maceration. We don't acidify. We don't chaptalize. Sugar has blurred the image of the region enough. For aging on the lees, as for the vines, we prefer the old. We grow in old Burgundy barrels. No new barrels. Only those that have already contained wine several times. We limit the yield. You don't want to go further to keep your hand on the whole. And paradoxically, in the end, this old way of doing things is very modern.

Information

Domain Name:
Lucas & André Rieffel
Winemaker's Name:
Lucas Rieffel
Country:
France
Region:
Alsace-Lorraine
Appellations:
Alsace, Vin de France
Grape varieties:
Gewurztraminer, Sylvaner, Gewurtztraminer, Riesling, Auxerrois, Pinot gris, Chardonnay, Pinot blanc, Muscat, Pinot noir