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History - Philosophy - Vinification - Wines - Addresses & Links |
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WINEMAKING |
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At "HUGEL" "The wine is already present in the grapes" All Alsace wines must be made from 100% of the named grape variety. Vineyards – Climate Total vineyard area of Alsace is currently 14,500 hectares.
At "HUGEL" production comes from almost 150 hectares, in and around Riquewihr, in the centre of the region. 26 hectares in the "HUGEL" estate and about 120 hectares under long-term contract, for grapes only,
from selected small growers. The vineyards cover the foothills of the Vosges mountains, running 150 km north to south. Best vineyards are on south-facing spurs jutting out from hills. Soil-types extremely varied. In the
"HUGEL" estate, the dominant soil elements are clay and limestone.
Viticultural practices and vintage Vines are trained along high wires (top wire up to 2 metres high) The most common way of pruning is called Double Guyot. Irrigation prohibited except in nurseries. Some very steep hillsides with plantings 1,50 metres between rows to allow small tractors on all but the steepest slopes. Quite fertile soils (peaches, apricots, walnuts, figs all grow easily). Soil depth in our Schoenenbourg slope vineyards 13 metres. We ourselves do not use fertiliser, because our vineyards are almost all on well-exposed hillsides with deep soil. When necessary a green harvest is done to remove excessive bunches in late July.
The bare minimum of handling, racking, treatment etc, following the principle that the wine never becomes better than the grapes were. ØMust handling : Bunches are hand-picked in open-topped wooden or plastic buckets "cuves", each holding 100-120 kgs and brought as quickly as possible to the presshouse. Each cuve is quality tested by refractometer, selected and identified by colour-code. Grapes are taken to the press by gravity only, and are tipped through a funnel into one of the 6 horizontal pneumatic presses on the floor below. Last pressing is always kept apart and sold in bulk on the market. Free-run and first pressings go by gravity into stainless-steel vats in the cellar. Must is settled to remove solids for half a day prior to fermentation. ØFermentation : Fermentation takes place either in large oak casks, often more ØAgeing and maturation : Length of maturation depends on grape type. Lighter styles (Sylvaner, Gentil and Pinot Blanc) only a short period. Greater wines are matured for longer. When ready, wines are filtered into inert stainless-steel tanks to await bottling. Bottling takes place on alternate weeks from April until finished, normally early September. Treatments are limited to the bare minimum: No fining. No cold-stabilisation. No pasteurisation. No hot bottling. No sterile bottling. Bottling takes place on very modern robotised stainless-steel equipment. Minimum possible S02 content is used. All "HUGEL" wines are bottle-aged prior to release. Time depends on quality potential of the wine, usually minimum six months for generic wines, two years for Jubilee and up to eight years for VT or SGN wines. All "HUGEL" wines are bottled before the next harvest starts and each wine is one homogeneous lot. Once it is shipped, early in the release or later, in the nearby restaurant or "down-under" is will still be the same, identical product. |
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than 100 years old, or in stainless steel or glass-lined vats all equipped with temperature control equipment. Fermentation occurs naturally, with wild yeasts and usually lasts for over a month. When
fermentation is completely finished the wine is racked into clean casks for maturation. In most cases wines are not allowed to undergo secondary (malo-lactic) fermentation in order to preserve acid balance in the wine.
