Riesling Rorschwihr Selection de Grains Nobles
⏳ wine.drinking_window
Typically best enjoyed 15 to 40 years from the vintage release, with the potential to cellar even longer in exceptional years.
🍽️ wine.food_pairings
Blue cheese, foie gras, fruit tarts
✨ wine.spec_sheet
Hailing from the historic village of Rorschwihr, where viticulture has flourished since the Roman era and was highly prized by medieval royalty, this Sélection de Grains Nobles represents the pinnacle of Alsace's sweet winemaking. Domaine Rolly Gassmann leverages the village's complex mosaic of clay-limestone soils to craft a Riesling of extraordinary depth. This rare cuvée is only produced in exceptional vintages when the autumn mists encourage the development of Botrytis cinerea (noble rot). The grapes are meticulously harvested by hand, berry by individual berry, in successive passes through the vineyards. In the cellar, a slow, natural fermentation is followed by years of patient aging, resulting in a wine that masterfully balances rich, honeyed concentration with the piercing, vibrant acidity characteristic of the Riesling grape.
🍾 wine.about_producer
Established in 1967 through the union of two historic winemaking families with roots in Rorschwihr dating back to 1611 and 1676, Domaine Rolly Gassmann is a benchmark of Alsatian viticulture. Located in the picturesque village of Rorschwihr, Alsace, France, the estate is guided by Pierre Gassmann, who maintains a steadfast commitment to biodynamic principles and meticulous hand-harvesting. The domaine is globally revered for its patient approach to winemaking, utilizing massive cellar capacities to age wines for years—sometimes decades—before commercial release. This philosophy yields remarkably complex, texturally rich white wines, most notably their late-harvest Vendanges Tardives and S lection de Grains Nobles, as well as terroir-specific expressions of Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and Pinot Gris from prized parcels like Kappelweg, Silberberg, and Oberer Weingarten.