Alsace grand cru Schoenenbourg

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The soils rest on dolomitic and gypseous Keuper marls, covered by thin layers of siliceous gravel derived from Vosges sandstone and Muschelkalk.
• The clay-marl soil is deep, contains a greater or lesser proportion of pink sandstone and glacial sands, and retains moisture well while being rich in nutrients.
• The Vosges massif shelters the vineyard from cool, moist north-westerly winds, favouring establishment on well-exposed slopes oriented from east to south-west with steep gradients.
• Situated at the mouth of a small, enclosed, cool valley, this grand cru is sheltered from the prevailing westerly and northerly winds, with slow spring warming ensuring a slow, even ripening of the grapes.
• At the eastern end of the zone, calcareous marls of the Lias, a Lower Jurassic formation, come to the surface. (via Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0)

• The terroir of Schoenenbourg is noted for the quality of its wines, recognised as capable of travelling and improving with age as early as 1334, and Merian cited it in 1644 as the hillside producing the noblest wine of this land.
• The appellation d'origine contrôlée Alsace grand cru Schoenenbourg was recognised in 1992, whereas the original 1975 decree had selected a single cru before twenty-four others were added in 1983.
• The vineyard is trained on a tall trellis system to maximise leaf-surface area, with a minimum planting density of 4,500 vines per hectare and manual harvesting of the grapes.
• Wines bearing the Vendanges Tardives and Sélection de Grains Nobles designations are made from over-ripe and fragile grapes harvested by hand, and must undergo a minimum of 18 months' ageing.

• The white wines are age-worthy wines characterised by a pronounced freshness rooted in a dominant tartaric acidity combined with good grape ripeness.
• The mineral dry wines and the aromatic, fruity, full-bodied, and rich wines display a sustained colour intensity ranging up to deep golden yellow.
• Vendanges Tardives wines often show highly exotic aromas and candied fruit with a fresh finish, while Sélection de Grains Nobles wines are more concentrated and powerful, often with fruit-paste aromas.
• Vendanges Tardives and Sélection de Grains Nobles wines are sweet wines of very long keeping potential, with remarkable concentration and great aromatic persistence.

• The deep, marly soils yield opulent, full-structured, deep, and complex wines marked by an original acidic structure reminiscent of gypsum and great bitterness.
• Favourable late-season climatic conditions, conducive to concentration on the vine and to the development of noble rot, allow the production of wines from over-ripe harvested grapes.

Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the source.

All appellations in France

Sources

• Product specification (BO Agri, PDF), JORF 29 juin 2016,
• Official INAO text (show_texte)
• INAO product entry
• Official trade body site — CIVA