With viticultural origins going back as far as 1626 this family owned estate produces some of the finest dry wines of Alsace. From prime sites based around the villages of Ribeauville and Hunawihr, the Trimbach family own 27 hectares of vineyards including 1.67ha of Rosacker Grand cru (which produces the highly famed Clos St Hune Riesling) as well as parcels of Geisberg and Osterberg (blended to make the equally renowned Riesling cuvee Frederic Emile). Geisberg and Osterberg are located on the hill rising up behind the family winery on the edge of Ribeauville where the family moved to in the 1890’s having moved from the smaller neighbouring village of Hunawihr. The label of Clos St Hune depicts the view to the church of Hunawihr from their previous premises in Hunawihr.
The style of wines produced by Trimbach are “harmonious wines that are concentrated, not heavy; fruity, not sweet; bracing rather than fat; polite rather than voluptuous”. Fermentations are cool and slow, the wines removed from their lees and maloloactic fermentation avoided. The wines are filtered fined and bottled early to preserve the freshness of the fruit and dry Rieslings are made with less than 5 gms residual sugar and dry Gewurztraminer less than 10 gms. The wines are then aged in cellar for at least one year and up to 5 years or more for the top wines. Even the richer vendages tardive and SGN wines are made with more restrain than is usual with VT’ Rieslings often carrying 15-40 gms and VT Gewurztraminer around 50 gms and SGN from 100 gms. Trimbach’s wines rightly rank among the worlds very best.
Clos St Hune – a unique terroir in Alsace and a stunning record of greatness
The Clos Sainte Hune is a tiny vineyard of 1.67 ha within the Grand Cru Rosacker. It is situated at the foot of the village of Hunawihr, and is planted with 50-70 year-old vines. What makes this terroir so special? Well, talking to Jean Trimbach, he firmly sees the soil as a central part: “The terroir is on a rather unique soil of limestone and marl, a rare formation for Alsace.” A great Clos Sainte Hune is not heavy and remains one of the great delights of the Riesling world. Clos Sainte Hune has come to epitomize Riesling elegance and finesse. There are far more powerful expression of Riesling, however few if any can beat it for finesse.
