Rotenberg Pinot Gris Selection de Grains Nobles
⏳ Drinking Window
2020 - 2045
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Foie gras, blue cheese, apricot tart
✨ Technical Specifications
The Rotenberg vineyard, situated in Wintzenheim on a steep, west-to-northwest-facing slope, is famous for its distinctive red limestone soil, rich in iron. This unique terroir slows down the ripening process, preserving a vibrant, crystalline acidity that is crucial for balancing sweet wines. Domaine Zind Humbrecht's Pinot Gris Sélection de Grains Nobles is a rare masterpiece born only in exceptional vintages when botrytis cinerea (noble rot) develops perfectly. The grapes are meticulously hand-harvested in multiple passes ('tries') to select only the most shriveled, concentrated berries. Fermented slowly with indigenous yeasts in historic oak foudres, this wine reflects Olivier Humbrecht's uncompromising biodynamic philosophy, resulting in an incredibly rich, complex nectar with notes of honey, dried apricots, and exotic spices, backed by a monumental mineral backbone.
🍾 About the Producer
Domaine Zind Humbrecht was created in 1959 through the marriage of Léonard Humbrecht and Geneviève Zind, unifying family viticultural lineages in Gueberschwihr and Wintzenheim that trace back to 1620. Today directed by Master of Wine Olivier Humbrecht alongside his wife Margaret and son Pierre-Emile, the estate commands approximately 42 hectares across Alsace's most celebrated terroirs, including prestigious Grand Crus like Rangen de Thann, Brand, Hengst, and Goldert, alongside famed monopoles and single vineyards like Clos Saint Urbain and Clos Windsbuhl. Committed to biodynamic viticulture since 1997 with full Biodyvin and Ecocert certifications, the domaine champions intense low-yield farming, whole-cluster pressing, spontaneous indigenous yeast fermentations that often extend over many months, and protracted aging on total lees in traditional oak foudres. The benchmark wines—most famously single-vineyard Riesling, Pinot Gris, and Gewurztraminer—possess profound textural concentration, vibrant acidity, uncompromising mineral transparency, and an extraordinary capacity for prolonged cellar evolution.
🍇 Grapes
Pinot Gris
🍷 ABV
6% - 9%