Schieferkopf Riesling Trocken Sec 2023

Profile & Story

Schieferkopf is M. Chapoutier's terroir-driven Riesling/Gewurztraminer/Sylvaner project along the Rhine basin. In 2006 Michel Chapoutier set out to produce a great Riesling in Alsace; after a three-year search he settled on the Lieu-dit Schieferberg in Bernardville (Bas-Rhin), purchasing 5 hectares on the only strip of blue schist in Alsace (subsoil dating to the Precambrian, over 542 million years old), on steep south/south-east-facing hillsides of the Vosges foothills at 380m. The first Schieferkopf vintage (2009) was released in 2011. Searching for a complementary granite terroir, Chapoutier's team then crossed the Rhine into Baden, Germany - the warmest German wine region and climatically closest to their Alsace site - securing south-facing vineyards on a mosaic of granitic and arkose sandy soils over a granitic subsoil. This Riesling Trocken Sec comes from the Baden, Germany side of the Schieferkopf project. It is 100% Riesling, farmed biodynamically and hand-harvested, direct-pressed without destemming, given cold static settling, then fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel (16-20C) and aged on the fine lees in stainless steel for 12 months; production is about 50,000 bottles.