Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives
⏳ Drinking Window
2024 - 2045
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Foie gras, Munster cheese, fruit tarts
✨ Technical Specifications
Famille Hugel's Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives is a monument to Alsace winemaking, born from a legacy deeply intertwined with the region's history. It was Jean 'Johnny' Hugel who championed and drafted the strict legal guidelines for the 'Vendanges Tardives' (late harvest) designation, officially enacted in 1984. Sourced from the steep, clay-limestone slopes surrounding the medieval village of Riquewihr, the grapes are left on the vine to overripen, often developing noble rot (Botrytis cinerea) under the autumn mists. Hand-harvested with painstaking selection, the grapes undergo a slow, natural fermentation in the estate's historic, century-old oak casks. The resulting wine is a sensory masterpiece: intensely aromatic with notes of lychee, rose petals, and exotic spices, offering an opulent sweetness perfectly balanced by a spine of vibrant acidity and mineral depth. It represents the pinnacle of Alsatian late-harvest craftsmanship, marrying power, elegance, and historical pedigree.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 1639 by Hans Ulrich Hugel in the fortified medieval village of Riquewihr, Famille Hugel represents one of the world's most enduring wine dynasties, spanning thirteen consecutive generations. The domaine oversees approximately 30 hectares of estate vineyards—largely concentrated in premier climats including the famed Grand Cru Schoenenbourg and Sporen—supplemented by contractual partnerships across Alsace. Sheltered by the Vosges Mountains in one of France’s driest meso-climates, the steep, south-facing parcels benefit from complex geological mosaics of Triassic limestone, marl, and sandstone. Viticulture follows sustainable lutte raisonnée principles with manual harvesting. Winemaking favors classical restraint: pneumatic pressing, spontaneous fermentation via indigenous yeasts, and élevage in century-old neutral oak foudres, devoid of cosmetic wood influence or chaptalization. Famille Hugel famously pioneered the modern codification of Alsace late-harvest wines; its benchmark portfolio is headlined by the dry, structured Grossi Laüe single-terroir bottlings alongside historically revered Vendange Tardive and botrytized Sélection de Grains Nobles cuvées.
🍇 Grapes
Gewurztraminer
🍷 ABV
12-13.5%