A message from Peter Frick , renowned for its wines biodynamics in Alsace. We are not alone in wanting to share. I took his pen in full:
THE HARVEST 2008 ARE COMPLETED ...
November 17 ... the last grapes were harvested by a beautiful Indian summer there are only 5 days, Riesling rosis by the alternation of sun and some rain back end. With 13% and potential entry into the storm cellar where fermentation of the central period of the harvest has subsided for some time, this juice is harvested very cold warmed a bit to boost indigenous yeasts , which if not to abandon winter lethargy. This Riesling terroir Morgenbrunn (fountain rising) Closing the fine 2008 vintage. October, blessed by the gods, has transformed this year pilot a few months of missed August and September, too cool and shady. In our plots a watershed of maturity (seed browning, melt the flesh of grapes) took place about October 10 and the heart of the harvest was so moved to October 18. Patience and confidence, after the hard work of the summer season. The precipitation will leave a taste of dissatisfaction and incompleteness. Instead, we waited for each plot, and also our small capacities pressing we would remove any temptation to rush through this crucial period of picking grapes.
18 cutters and 2 carriers hood brighten up the vines for 4 weeks often by sorting the vine with two buckets. The mixing of origins and generations, job sharing and lunches taken together in the vineyards weave a cultural experience essential for us. Yet the meeting of pickers becomes scarce in the vineyard , with the growing supremacy of the harvesting machine. Yes, cost of 550 euros per hectare crop in mechanical harvesting, while hand picking is estimated at 2,200 euros per hectare. If the wine production is only one breadwinner, the economic calculation course leaves little chance to manual harvesting. Add to that the motivation for hand picking is not so widespread these days. So? ... We will continue to touch and pick our grapes by human hands, in a cheerful and warm. It also wine holder him, to do good to the taster.
We are artisans, winemakers, and this little communication, we write it between cleanings of tanks, after racking, and before returning to the densities of juice fermentation . These are crucial days where you have to taste the wines daily and make quick decisions. When the fermentation of a wine slows, the question arises as to the ultimate balance between alcohol, residual sugar and freshness. Should we prepare to winter and back on the fermentation in the spring or summer. Or balance Is it satisfactory for the future of wine , in which case the withdrawal is necessary. If a taste of a wine lees appears in, is it acceptable for a few days, or should we aerate the wine at the risk of tiring. One or other of these choices arises for the 30 wines harvested in 2008. They are "little children" to watch, because errors of judgment in this phase do not repair themselves when waives all corrections and all additives provided by the pharmacopoeia winemaking. If we take the wrong decision, it will do with it. It's a tightrope without a net work.
The 2008 vintage has entrusted to our monitoring of the rhythms very different vintages. Many of them have completed their first phase before breeding. However the last harvested juice are still seeking their guidance. Some wines have a fermentation at a run, conducted grams of sugar to the last: Sylvaner classic, with its freshness and ripe mouth finely herbaceous - Chasselas flexible and effervescent - Muscat classic, tipped to a breeding without sulfur - Riesling Bihl sharp and mineral - Riesling Krottenfues to coconut flavors.
Other wines, juices more concentrated, suspended their race with a little sweetness in the finish: about 10 grams of residual sugar: encore troublé par les lies. Pinot Auxerrois Krottenfuess the palace yet tightened, Pinot Blanc Hohlweg very fragile to aeration, Riesling Rot Murle still troubled by the lees. Several rich wines nearing completion with a final that will remain soft: Pinot Gris Rot Murle in search of finesse, Gewurztraminer Morgenbrunn end to the palace of exotic fruits - Sylvaner Bergweingarten exuberant nose and palate - Riesling Grand Cru Vorbourg still thick on the palate.
The Pinot Noirs were harvested ripe sorting, destemmed to 60 or 70% and put into tanks for 10 days maceration. Classic Black Pinot, flexible and cost, may be high without sulfur - Pinot Black Strangenberg troubled and asks racking - Pinot Black Rot Murle, already withdrawn, exhales cherry and incense - Pinot Black Terraces, also withdrawn, remains on the reserve as a wine of guard. The 2008 vintage has also offered a rich harvest of late harvest and Selection de Grains Nobles, through a work of sorting in the vineyard. They arrive gradually at the end of their long journey fermentation: Muscat and Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Steinert, Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Eichberg, Pinot Gris Grand Cru Vorbourg, Gewurztraminer Selection de Grains Nobles (22% potential) and Pinot Gris Selection de Grains Nobles (19% potential). This harvest is a renewed opportunity to accompany the birth of young wines. Each represents a unique work of art. This differentiates them from frozen wines and reproducible, "fabricated" and arranged with wine tricks. Our wines of 2008 will carry of special messages to the taster, he knows his senses and listen to the subtle energies open.
Chantal and Jean-Pierre Frick
Tags: frick stone , vintage , winemaker , sulfur free , bio-dynamic , artisan winemakers , wine , yeast , Gewurztraminer , fermentation , Muscat , Riesling , Sylvaner , vineyard 
