Technical presentation
| Bottling : | January 2025 |
|---|---|
| Acquired alcohol : | 12.8 ° |
| Residual sugar : | Less than 0.5 g/l |
| Total acidity : | 4. g/l H2SO4 (6.4 g/l Acide Tartrique) |
| pH : | 3.14 |
| Yield : | 53 hl/ha |
| Optimum tasting : | 2027-2043+ |
| Average age of vines : | 54 years |
| Grape variety : | Pinot Gris |
| Terroir : | Clos Windsbuhl |
| Sweetness index : | 1 |
| Soil : | Medium slope, Muschelkalk calcareous, South East facing, South facing |
Description of the wine Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl 2023
There are written traces of the cultivation of Pinot Gris (Tokayer) on the Windsbuhl dating from 1759, when the Windsbuhl had been purchased by the Württemberg who had commented on the fact that this grape variety was very successful there. Pinot Gris is a complicated grape variety, very mutagenic. It is possible to find very different clones ranging from small berries to large bunches. It is also a grape variety with a low aromatic potential, therefore advocating the production of flat wines, perhaps like its cousin Chardonnay, unless planted on a great terroir (limestone being one) which restricts its production, gives an acid structure for ageing and a strong personality to the wine. It then turns into a great grape variety. In the recent past, with vintages where noble rot was almost common, these wines were often sweet. Today, climate change makes it possible to harvest healthier grapes and therefore to obtain structured dry wines, with acidities like great Rieslings. They can finish their fermentation on very dry balances, like this 2023. The long ageing period on total lees in casks will also have made it possible to refine and strengthen the structure of this wine.
Tasting notes
01/2025: pale gold colour. The nose is marked by the noble long full lees contact, showing aromas of complex reduction, grilled, smoked, toasted (no new wood here!) with an underlying panoply of white fruits. The palate is precise, tense, fleshy, with a beautiful length and a superb expression of the limestone terroir. The finish shows a ripe soft complex bitterness and an extraordinary salivation, resulting from the magnesium richness of this limestone. It is a wine that lovers of complex dry white wines should consider!. A great wine for laying down.
The Clos Windsbuhl of Hunawihr
The altitude of the vineyard coupled with Hunawihr’s tardy climate means that the Clos Windsbuhl is often one of the last of our vineyards to be harvested. This explains the aromatic quality of the Clos’ wines and the consistent balance of acidity, a guarantee of good ageing. Although often harvested late, the Windsbuhl grapes are only rarely botryitized, doubtless due to the altitude of the vineyard, but nevertheless often reach high levels of maturity.