Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris "Rotenberg" dry white 2022

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Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris "Rotenberg" dry white 2022

Tasting comments from the winemaker (January 2024): Bright yellow color. Subtle nose opening up to citrus aromas. Tight mouthfeel, typical of the red limestone of Rotenberg.
The palate is more expressive than the nose, with a smooth and velvety texture revealing more aromas of white fruits, honey, and some exotic fruits. This wine offers much pleasure and satisfaction today with a long finish.

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (Stephan Reinhardt, February 2025): 95/100. From 41-year-old, 33 hectoliters per hectare-yielding vines on red limestone soils from the Oligocene, the dark golden-colored 2022 Rotenberg Wintzenheim Pinot Gris opens with a remarkably fragrant, pure, refined, saline and rocky bouquet of ripe and concentrated white and yellow seed fruits, crushed limestones and lemony nuances. Round, vital and very elegant on the palate, this is a full-bodied, intense yet refined Pinot Gris that reveals a saline, savory and finely tannic finish with noble bitters and delicate fruit aromas. Bottled with 0.5 grams per liter of residual sugar, this is an analytically bone dry but sensorial ample, rich and complex Pinot with a long, mineral finish. The tannins are fine and well integrated and perfectly intermingled with the precise limestone acidity. This is an extraordinary Pinot Gris that was bottled with 13.15% alcohol in January 2024. Natural cork. Tasted in November 2024.
The Pinot Gris is eventually even better than the excellent Auxerrois from this cru. "The steep red limestone slopes of the Rotenberg turn from full north facing to west facing," explains Olivier Humbrecht whose family domaine owns almost two hectares under vine on the west-facing part, looking at the Vosges mountains. "Enjoying a late sunrise and early sunset, this vineyard is capable of retaining good acidity and structure every vintage. It was also capable in the past, in late-ripening vintages, to produce amazing Vendanges Tardives. Today, the harvest is much earlier, and the grapes possess a balance that allows for the production of racy dry wines.". Drink date 2025-2045.

Technical sheet written by the domaine:

Description: The Rotenberg vineyard is located on the northwest-facing slope of the Grand Cru Hengst in Wintzenheim, on red limestone (siliceous limestone marls from the Oligocene period). The vines grow almost on the bedrock, the steep slope must have undergone erosion during its formation, but it is also a relatively poor limestone. The Rotenberg ripens relatively late, especially considering the climatic precocity of the village. Certainly, the altitude and the northwest exposure greatly contribute to slowing the sugar increase on this rapidly ripening grape variety. In the past, it was a favored spot for producing late harvest wines. Today, earlier harvests and a much drier climate encourage the production of dry-style wines. The Rotenberg vineyard has adapted brilliantly to this change in style. The production is very low (23hl/ha in 2019!). The vines show beautiful vigor but bear a reduced number of clusters, which are themselves very small. Generally, but especially in 2019, the wines show a firm structure. Slow to ferment in 2019, the indigenous yeasts ultimately managed to produce an absolutely dry wine, to our great satisfaction!


Bottling: January 2024

Acquired alcohol: 13.15°

Residual sugar: 0.5 g/l

Total acidity: 3.6 g/l H2SO4 (5.5 g/l Tartaric)

pH: 3.25

Yield: 33 hl/ha

Optimum tasting: 2025-2040+

Average age of the vines: 41 years

Terroir: Oligocene red limestone

Vintage 2022
2022 follows a stressful 2021 vintage, both for the vine and the winemakers! The small harvest and ultimately better weather in August 2021 favored significant floral induction (the moment when the vine prepares for fruiting for the coming year – the leaf bud becomes fertile and bears the future cluster). It is therefore not surprising to see many clusters on the vines in spring 2022! There were some risks of frost in early April, but temperatures did not drop low enough to cause problems in Alsace. Bud break was slow and spread over the first three weeks of April. May and June were very dry and hot. The vines finally grew rapidly, and the first flowers were observed on Clos Jebsal around May 20, with flowering finishing in early June in the later-ripening vineyards of Rangen and Clos Windsbuhl. The risk of disease was very low even though powdery mildew had to be monitored closely. By the end of May, signs of early water stress could be observed. High temperatures and lack of water during flowering caused significant shatter and millerandage, particularly in the Riesling vineyards located on the gravelly terroirs of Turckheim. In these situations, the floral caps remained stuck together, and either the flower aborted or dried out. In a few weeks, a huge harvest potential became a small harvest in many vineyards! The vineyards of Wintzenheim (Hengst) benefited from a bit of rain after June 20, but unfortunately accompanied by some small hail. We were glad that only a small area had this problem (20% loss), but by the end of summer we would have preferred to have this rain and small hail on all our vineyards. The lack of water in 2022 was more damaging than a small hail! July was also hot and dry. The first grapes began their veraison (changing color) around July 14 (still at Clos Jebsal). Some rain (Brand) at the end of July was welcome but not really sufficient to prepare the vines for a very hot first half of August (temperatures between 35 and 38°C). Finally, significant rain brought all the necessary water to the granite soils of Brand, Sommerberg, and Wineck-Schlossberg in mid-August but with significant hail damage, mainly in the villages of Niedermorschwihr and Katzenthal. Only the Grand Cru Brand in the central and western part was lucky enough to have water with almost no hail damage. Unfortunately, again, the vines on the gravels of Turckheim received no rain. In these vineyards, the berries stopped their growth early and contained very little juice. Harvest began early on August 22. To be able to harvest on short days (finishing before it gets too hot in the afternoon) and not to harvest certain plots in over-ripeness, we sometimes employed up to 100 people in the vineyards. Most vineyards were harvested during the first half of September. We finished the harvest with richer Gewurztraminer wines on September 20. The granite soils ripened very quickly, and, except for Sommerberg and Wineck-Schlossberg, the harvest volume is satisfactory. The limestone soils also performed very well. They were not affected by water stress, and the berries/foliage developed very well. The terroir of Herrenweg/Roche Roulée/Turckheim suffered the most from the heat and lack of water. 2022 would have been a difficult vintage for botrytized late harvest wines. When ripeness is so early in dry conditions, botrytis does not develop easily, and if it does develop, the risk of gray rot is high, which was the case in 2022. Water stress, unlike in 2021, also slowed soil activity. The wines of 2022 had a much lower nitrogen content causing very complicated fermentation finishes. The cellar team worked hard in spring 2023 by constantly restarting the fermentations from the yeast selections in the cellar. This allowed all the wines meant to be dry to finish their fermentations during the summer of 2023. The average yield in 2022 is 37.9 hl/ha (33 hl/ha Grand Crus and 38 hl/ha Alsace). All the wines are expressive and show an unsuspected elegance, resulting from a harmonious combination of minerals, good acidity, ripe tannins, and an absence of residual sugars where not necessary. 2022 is a contrasting vintage that produced great wines on the finest terroirs of Alsace.