Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives
⏳ Drinking Window
2021 - 2035
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Munster cheese with caraway seeds, foie gras poêlé, spiced fruit tart
✨ Technical Specifications
Crafted from late-harvested fruit subject to noble rot and natural passerillage on the vine, this Vendanges Tardives highlights the dramatic rain-shadow microclimates of southern Alsace. Sourced from south- and southeast-facing foothills layered with marl, sandstone, and limestone, the grapes reach exceptional natural must weights without chaptalization. Vinification is executed under slow, temperature-controlled fermentation in inert stainless steel vats to preserve volatile aromatics, followed by extended maturation on fine lees to build mid-palate texture while balancing substantial residual sugar against firm varietal acidity.
🍾 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
12.5% - 13.5%