Producer Domaine Rietsch

FRANCE, ALSACE

The Domaine Jean-Pierre Rietsch is located in Mittelbergheim, is one of the most picturesque villages of Alsace. His family has been involved in vine-related activities, from cooperation to viticulture since the 17th century. The turning point came in the early 1970s, when Pierre and Doris Rietsch transformed the domain into a purely wine-producing company. Now we find Jean-Pierre Rietsch and his wife Sophie at the helm, and although Pierre Rietsch has retired, he remains present throughout the year and continues to contribute to the various tasks. Those of Rietsch are organic, natural and experimental wines, made from grapes grown without chemistry. In 2008 they began to work in organic vineyards, with an approach as respectful as possible of the vine and soil, which are processed without pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, insecticides and antifungals, and all this allows the native flora and fauna to create a balanced environment and promote the expression of terroir. The harvests are manual, and in the cellar the grapes are delicately pressed and fermented spontaneously with indigenous yeasts only. No addition of sugar, no correction of acidity, and their interventions during aging are limited to the minimum necessary, so as not to disturb the character of the wine and allow it to express its characteristics in the best possible way. In recent years new winemaking processes have been experimented, mainly in two directions: the production of maceration wines, orange wine, and that of perpetual wines, that is combining old vintages with the latter, with the aim of combining vivacity and freshness of the vintage wine in progress with the more complex taste of the old vintages.