Riesling Pflaenzerreben Rorschwihr
⏳ Drinking Window
2012 - 2025
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Choucroute garnie, roasted pork belly, mildly spiced Thai curry
✨ Technical Specifications
Hailing from the historic Pflaenzerreben lieu-dit in the village of Rorschwihr, this Riesling is a masterclass in the slow, patient winemaking philosophy of Domaine Rolly Gassmann. The Pflaenzerreben terroir is defined by its complex clay-limestone soils, which impart a dense, structured minerality and remarkable power to the grape. Rolly Gassmann allows the wine to ferment slowly with indigenous yeasts and age extensively in traditional large oak foudres, followed by years of bottle maturation in their labyrinthine cellars before release. The result is a Riesling of incredible texture, balancing a signature touch of residual sweetness with a vibrant, laser-like acidity and deep, evolving notes of orchard fruit, white flowers, and petrol-like minerality.
🍾 About the Producer
Domaine Rolly Gassmann emerged in 1967 through the marriage of Marie-Thérèse Rolly and Louis Gassmann, unifying two families with winemaking lineages in Alsace dating to 1676 and 1611 respectively. Situated in Rorschwihr along the complex Ribeauvillé fault line, the estate commands over 50 hectares characterized by a mosaic of 21 distinct limestone-dominant subsoil profiles. Opting out of the Alsace Grand Cru hierarchy in favor of expressing traditional historic lieux-dits, current winemaker Pierre Gassmann operates strictly within biodynamic rhythms. The viticultural approach champions late physiological and phenological harvesting, intentionally courting noble rot across micro-parcels. In the cellar, natural fermentations proceed unhurried for four to six months. Celebrated for an obsessive dedication to bottle maturation, Rolly Gassmann stores millions of bottles in a state-of-the-art multi-level cellar before commercial release. The benchmark portfolio spans opulent, long-lived expressions from lieux-dits such as Silberberg, Kappelweg, and Pflaenzerreben, alongside lusciously concentrated Vendanges Tardives and Sélection de Grains Nobles.
🍇 Grapes
Riesling