Muscat Tradition
⏳ Drinking Window
2022 - 2025
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
White asparagus with hollandaise sauce, fresh goat cheese, mild Asian stir-fry
✨ Technical Specifications
Domaine Dirler-Cadé's Muscat Tradition is a dry, aromatic masterpiece that captures the vibrant essence of Alsace's winemaking heritage. Unlike the sweet, fortified Muscats of southern France, Alsace Muscat is vinified dry, offering an extraordinary sensory experience that mimics biting into a fresh, ripe grape. The Dirler and Cadé families, pioneers of biodynamic viticulture in the region, cultivate their Muscat vines in the sandstone and limestone-rich soils around Bergholtz. This terroir imparts a subtle, stony minerality that balances the grape's exuberant floral and fruit-forward character. Historically, Muscat has been cherished in Alsace since the 16th century, celebrated for its purity and its ability to herald the arrival of spring. Dirler-Cadé respects this legacy through gentle whole-cluster pressing, natural yeast fermentation, and aging in traditional foudres, resulting in a wine of exceptional clarity, vivacity, and dry elegance.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 1871 by Jean Dirler in the southern Alsatian village of Bergholtz, Domaine Dirler-Cadé took its modern form in 2000 following the marriage of fifth-generation vigneron Jean Dirler to Ludivine Cadé. Pioneers of ecological viticulture in the region, the family began converting to biodynamics in 1998 under the guidance of François Bouchet, attaining full Biodyvin and Demeter certification across their 18 hectares of vines. The estate's holdings are distinguished by prime parcels in four Grand Crus—Kessler, Kitterlé, Saering, and Spiegel—alongside celebrated lieux-dits such as Belzbrunnen, Bux, and Bollenberg. Here, steep slopes composed of Buntsandstein pink sandstone, volcanic conglomerates, and marl-limestone are worked by hand and horse-plowed. In the cellar, low-intervention vinification emphasizes gentle pressing, native yeast fermentations, and unhurried aging on fine lees in traditional neutral foudres and stainless steel. The resulting dry Rieslings, aromatic Pinot Gris, structured Gewurztraminers, and precision Crémants deliver intense mineral clarity, textural poise, and profound ageability.
🍇 Grapes
Muscat Ottonel, Muscat à Petits Grains