The worst and the best or the importance of the georegion

The climate

The spring of 1994 was warm and rainy until flowering. A very dry summer followed, with no rain at all from the beginning of July until the end of August. In September and early October it was particularly rainy. The weather completely changed from 4th to 21st of October when it was hot, sunny and dry. The rain returned on 22 October.

The grapes and the wine

The conditions for flowering were good for all the grape varieties. In the Clos Saint Landelin, the usual thinning was done in very hot weather in July and August.

The composition of the soil played a determining role in the quality of the harvest. In the area of Rouffach, and particularly on the hillsides, the soil is pebbly and chalky and the water drains off quickly. There was a definite contrast between the pebbly dry soil with good drainage giving small yields and the clayey soil giving high yields.

On the stony soils, the vines had already stopped growing in early August, the grapes ripened and their skin became thick because of the dryness. On the clayey soils, the vines went on growing and the rain in September caused gray rot to develop on the unripe grapes. These grapes had to be harvested quickly to avoid any further damage to their quality, but gave diluted and acidy wines. In our vineyards, the water drained off rapidly weakening the skin of the grapes that were already ripe and favoring the development of noble rot.

As a result it was decided to delay picking and take advantage of the sunny period from 4th to 21st of October to have grapes with a must concentration that was increasing every day. At the Clos Saint Landelin, the harvest ended on Friday 21st October. That day some of the gewurztraminer had a potential alcohol content of 26% vol. Luck was with us, as it started raining again the very next day.

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