Let’s cut to the chase: Greatness is not always easy to define, yet here it’s straightforward. There’s the legendary quality of the domaine’s terroirs for a start. Weinbach is the largest landholder on the Schlossberg hill, one of the world’s premier sites for Riesling. Then, there is the outstanding, certified biodynamic work in the vines, the low yields—typically less than 35 hl/ha—and the strict fruit selection at harvest time. Furthermore, there is the classic, minimalist, refined-over-many-decades practice in the cellars that includes whole-cluster pressing, wild-yeast fermentation with no additions and maturation in colossal ancient casks. Finally, there’s the brilliance and longevity of the wines themselves, a high standard domaine Weinbach has achieved for longer than anyone can remember.

Of course, no discussion would be complete without mention of the great women who established the modern Domaine Weinbach: Colette Faller and her two daughters, Laurence and Catherine. Sadly, two of these great wine women have been lost to us. Today, the emblematic Catherine Faller—surely France’s most charismatic First Lady of wine—is the matriarch. Working with Catherine are her sons, Théo and Eddy Faller, who oversee the day-to-day running of the domaine and are driving it to higher peaks. Longstanding maître de chai, Ghislain Berthiot, revels in the phenomenal fruit quality the Faller family give him to work with.

Domaine Weinbach farms 32 hectares of vineyards, predominantly Grand Cru. The most famous terroir is the majestic Schlossberg hill, closely followed by the walled Clos de Capucins, a Weinbach fiefdom that lies around the house and its cellars. Put simply, Schlossberg is one of the greatest Riesling vineyards in the world. Its quality was well-known as early as the 15th century. For this reason, it was the first vineyard in Alsace to receive the status of Grand Cru in 1975.

Weinbach owns eight hectares of this terroir. Another of the Faller’s great terroirs is the monopole, Clos de Capucins. Taking its name from the Capuchin friars who arrived here in 1619, the clos is at the bottom of a slope, well protected from winds by the surrounding hills. Its soils consist of sand, alluvium, granite gravel and pebbles. And we should not forget the majestic Furstentum Grand Cru, which produces some of the world’s most profound Gewurztraminer in the gifted hands of the Faller family.

Domaine Weinbach is universally regarded as one of the greatest producers of Alsace and therefore by proxy, one of the greatest ‘aromatic’ Domaines in the world. It is a Domaine that produces an endless stream of wines that are as delicious as they are profound.

The Fallers work as closely with nature as possible. They have farmed organically for some time; however, in the late 1990s, they began the conversion towards biodynamics and completed it in time for the 2005 vintage. Only organic compost is used, and the high value placed on hand vineyard management means there is no recourse for anti-fungal or insecticide treatments. Since conversion, we’ve noted an incremental rise in the wines’ minerality and freshness, alongside greater clarity and depth of fruit. The wines have more body, tone and shape and are somehow more pristine, with brilliant intensity. They glow with life on the palate,
The fruit is pressed as whole bunches into large ancient foudres where it ferments with indigenous yeasts. The ferments are unhurried and the wine is untended until it is ready for bottling without fining.

In terms of style, Weinbach offers a remarkable confluence of intensity and clarity, power and finesse, as contradictory as that sounds. There is also clarity and homogeneity when it comes to the levels of dryness (a rarity in Alsace these days). All the Rieslings are dry unless they are late harvest (marked “Vendage tardive”, “Séléction de grains nobles” or “l’Inédit”, the latter being a specific late-harvest bottling). The Gewurztraminers all have residual sugar, but this is balanced by the phenolics and Alsace’s natural acidity. In sum, the carnival of layered, rocky, and, at times, bewilderingly complex wines crafted at this remarkable estate is something to behold.