Lieu dit Berg Riesling Schieferkopf Chapoutier 2013

Lieu-Dit Berg Riesling Schieferkopf Par Michel Chapoutier, Alsace, France, 2013 

Grape: 100% Riesling, hand harvested, aged for 15 months in big casks (foudres)

Producer Tasting Note:

A gold colour with greenish highlights. The nose is fine with notes of mirabelle-plum, fresh citrus: tangerine, grapefruit, with menthol and celery notes. Slender and crisp on the palate. This wine has a weave of salty bitters underscored by a dash of minerality.

Critic's Tasting Note:

"A south-facing vineyard that touches the original vineyard; on brown schist, 450 m, bought later.  Barrel sample: Pale cloudy greenish straw. Needed a lot of aeration. A little sour but very racy and noble on the palate. Dry and very much alive (still fermenting in fact). Bit of a performing circus on the palate. Long. "

17/20 points, Jancis Robinson

Estate: Located in the village of Reichsfeld, on the only strip of blue schist in Alsace, this plot lies on a unique subsoil that dates back to the Precambrian (over 542 million years ago). The fairly deep soils and south-facing hillsides lend the wines from the Berg vineyard their exceptionally fruity character, minerality and freshness.

Vinification starts with a long pressing, then a static cold settling is carried out. Fermentation takes place thanks to native yeasts. Malolactic fermentation is complete. The wines from Domaine de Schieferkopf undergo full malolactic fermentation and are characterized by their late ripening terroir which enhances the complexity and round structure of aged our wines. The malolactic fermentation brings out the minerality from the blue schist terroir.