Gewurztraminer Selection de Grains Nobles
⏳ Drinking Window
2021 - 2040
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Seared foie gras with quince compote, Roquefort or Stilton blue cheeses, spiced gingerbread tart with candied orange.
✨ Technical Specifications
Crafted from parcel selections across the southern slopes of the Vosges foothills, this cuvée represents the pinnacle of late-harvest Alsace winemaking. Bunches of Gewurztraminer are left on the vine to develop noble rot (Botrytis cinerea), which concentrates sugars, acids, and aromatics through selective, successive manual pickings (tries successives). Fermentation proceeds slowly under strict temperature control in stainless steel to preserve pristine varietal aromatics and botrytis complexity, followed by extended maturation on fine lees without oak influence.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 1959 at the southern gateway of the Route des Vins d'Alsace, La Cave du Vieil-Armand takes its name from the legendary Hartmannswillerkopf peak, where local winegrowers united after the devastation of World War I to revive the region's historic slopes. Today, this cooperative unites approximately 75 to 80 winegrowing families managing roughly 150 hectares spread across the sub-Vosgian hills between Cernay and Guebwiller. Viticulture benefits from east-to-south exposures, sheltering Vosges microclimates, and diverse clay-limestone and marno-sandstone topsoils, prominently exemplified in the Grand Cru Ollwiller and the historical Château Ollwiller estate. Farmed under Haute Valeur Environnementale (HVE 3) guidelines with expanding certified organic parcels, the estate focuses on terroir-driven precision and purity of varietal fruit. Winemaking emphasizes gentle handling and temperature-controlled stainless steel vinification, yielding expressive dry bottlings, classic Crémant d'Alsace, and celebrated, botrytis-affected Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris Vendanges Tardives and Sélections de Grains Nobles.
🍇 Grapes
Gewurztraminer
🍷 ABV
11.5% - 13.0%