Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Grand Cru Brand dry white 2023

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Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Grand Cru Brand dry white 2023

RVF Guide to the Best Wines of France 2026 (Sept 2025): 98/100. The Brand is radiant, overflowing with notes of yellow grapefruit, sparkling and serene: a paragon of great riesling, delicious today as it will be in 20 years.

Tasting comments from the domaine (01/2025): Pale yellow gold color. The nose is already very expressive, revealing a complex aromatic palette of medicinal herbs (wormwood, yarrow...), ripe citrus (bergamot) and an undeniable mineral touch. The attack is lively, precise, and dynamic. The granite brings beautiful energy and straightness to the wine. The wine finishes very dry and reveals lovely noble bitters that enhance the vertical texture of this wine. This 2023 vintage is mouthwatering and precise and will age with great ease.

Bettane + Desseauve Guide 2026 (Sept. 2025): 90/100.

Technical sheet written by the domaine:

Description: As its name indicates, the hill of the Grand Cru Brand is a sunny terroir. The two-mica granite absorbs all solar energy during the day to release it at night and deep into the soil, and its position at the valley exit on a steep south slope ensures long sunshine exposure. The wines from Brand are demonstrative, flamboyant, and sparkling, typical characteristics of granite soils. This freshness comes from the fact that the decomposing granite produces fine elements (clays) that migrate deep into the faults. These fine elements, once colonized by the roots, bring minerality and water consistency, especially visible on the old vines. The Brand produces ripe Rieslings, but balanced with a straightness and acidity that can surprise. This is probably why this terroir frequently appeared in the ancient literature of the region as one of the best terroirs in Alsace.

Terroir:

This lieu-dit rests entirely on a substrate made up of the granite known as Turckheim. It is a terroir of granitic gore and black micas, the best supplier of trace elements in the soil. Such a gore, when it is old enough, constitutes a deep soil: a loamy arena allowing the roots to descend through cracks in the soil. On the two-mica granite part of Brand (Brand and Steinglitz), erosion and rainwater aggression on this acidic soil allow the formation of very small quantities of clays rich in trace elements, which accumulate in the deep cracks of this terroir.

As it ages, the vine pushes its roots far enough to reach them and thus no longer suffers from the driest microclimate in Alsace and finds complex minerality in depth. Towards Schnekelsbourg, there is muschelkalk in depth, which provides better water and mineral supply in a terroir that suffers greatly from soil poverty.

The average to steep slope faces south and southeast. The terroir of Brand benefits from exceptional sunshine and a situation protected from the northern winds. It is a very warm terroir with great precocity.

The wines:

Only Riesling is planted in our vines on the Brand (2.4ha). This grape variety acquires finesse and elegance (floral and fruit aromas) without ever becoming vulgar or too heavy. The Brand always surprises with the precocity of its wines, but good young, they have the ability to age very well.

Due to the nature of its soil, it is very easy to harvest Riesling at beautiful maturity, but especially with noble acidity (malic acid being more degraded in poor and warm terroirs).

The history of Grand Cru Brand:

The name Brand has appeared for a long time in the archives of the city of Turckheim and recalls that this part of the hill was eroded by fire. Brand means land of fire! The legend has it that the sun fights a dragon on this Grand Cru. The latter was defeated and forced to retreat into a dark cave beneath the Brand, thus explaining the characteristic warmth of the soil of this terroir.

The reputation of the wines of Turckheim dates back to the Middle Ages, and the Brand is the most renowned cuvée. It is a lieu-dit that has been cited among the Grand Crus of Alsace throughout history. The hill of Brand is found in the old Alsatian saying that the best wines of the country grow in the Rangen of Thann, the Wanne of Guebwiller (Kitterlé), and in the Brand of Turckheim.

Bottling: January 2025

Alcohol content: 12.8°

Residual sugar: 3.0 g/l

Total acidity: 4.5 g/l H2SO4 (6.9 g/l Tartaric Acid)

pH: 3.1
Yield: 38 hl/ha

Optimum tasting: 2027-2048+

Average age of the vines: 73 years

Grape variety: Riesling

Terroir: Grand Cru Brand

Sweetness index: 1

Soil: South-facing, steep slope, biotite granite