Alsace grand cru Steinert

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The Vosges massif shields the vineyard from the humid, cool north-westerly winds, allowing ideal establishment on well-exposed slopes.
• The vines are planted on slopes with a marked gradient facing from east to south-west, typical of the hills at the foot of the Vosges.
• The grand cru forms a kind of promontory backed by the Schauenberg, which rises above it, and is composed exclusively of very hard oolitic limestone.
• The soil is shallow and contains numerous fragments of calcareous parent rock that return stored heat to the vine.
• The prevailing westerly winds lose their moisture on the western slopes of the Vosges and reach Alsace in the form of a foehn, drier and warmer. (via Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0)

• The controlled designation of origin 'Alsace grand cru Steinert' was recognised in 1992, reflecting a long-standing practice of communicating wine origin by lieu-dit.
• 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.

• These are age-worthy white wines characterised by a pronounced freshness underpinned by dominant tartaric acidity, linked to good grape ripeness.
• The dry, mineral wines as well as the aromatic, fruity, full-bodied, and rich wines display a sustained depth of colour ranging up to golden yellow.
• Vendanges Tardives wines often show highly exotic and candied-fruit aromas with a fresh finish, while Sélection de Grains Nobles wines are more concentrated and powerful, often showing fruit-paste aromas.
• Vendanges Tardives and Sélection de Grains Nobles are sweet wines of exceptional longevity, with remarkable concentration and great aromatic persistence, displaying a depth of colour ranging up to amber yellow.

• Combined with a mesoclimate tending toward dryness, the terroir as a whole produces powerful, clean, and full-bodied wines with moderate acidity and aromas that are primarily fruity and floral with spiced and mentholated notes.

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