Riesling, Grand Cru, Schlossberg, 2012

Coming from a plot in the upper parts of the Schlossberg vineyard this shows really beautiful, fine citrus fruit and white flowers on the nose. On the palate there is sweet ripe fruit, but also a firm chiselled minerality and very clear acidity. The overriding impression here is one of elegance. Long and pure, 13.5% abv and 4g/l residual sugar. Schlossberg is a fabulous vineyard that was the first classified Grand Cru in Alsace. Based on a granite parent rock, the soils in Schlossberg are sandy, rich in minerals, not very deep at the top of the slope (400 metres of altitude), but deeper at the bottom (230 metres). Because of its steep slopes with a south exposure, Schlossberg needs terracing. The quality of this very famous vineyard was well known as early as the fifteenth century. It was the first Alsacian soil classified as a Grand Cru under the 1975 decree. Schlossberg is an extraordinary soil for Riesling, it gives it very pure fruitiness, personality and remarkable finesse.