Pinot Gris Vendanges Tardives
⏳ Drinking Window
2021 - 2035
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Seared foie gras with quince compote, Munster cheese drizzled with cumin, roasted duck breast with spiced fig reduction
✨ Technical Specifications
Grown on sheltered foothill slopes in southern Alsace characterized by clay-limestone and sandstone soils, this late-harvest expression highlights the concentration achievable through over-ripeness and noble rot. Harvested well past the standard vintage window under strict Vendanges Tardives regulations forbidding chaptalization, the botrytis-affected clusters undergo gentle pneumatic pressing followed by temperature-controlled fermentation in stainless steel to preserve pristine varietal aromatics and balance residual sweetness with energetic 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
Pinot Gris
🍷 ABV
12.5% - 13.5%