Alsace Willm - Cuvee Emile Willm - Riesling 2020

Winery Technical Data

The Riesling is the King of Alsace and among the world’s greatest grapes. The juice is white and the wines are dry, racy with great definition of the fruit. Grown on mineral soils, it expresses floral and mineral character offering great ageing potential. In Alsace, Riesling acquires distinctive concentration perfectly balanced by the acidity.

2016: Vintage with a relatively mild winter, hot and sunny summer and then a cool autumn to reach the maturity of the grapes intended for the production of still wines in mid-September.

The vinification of the Cuvées Emile Willm favors the fruity side, the extraction of the material and a certain expression of the terroir of origin. The grapes are harvested with a beautiful maturity from selected old vines and privileged terroirs. These are ample and complex wines.

Beautiful light yellow color with silvery reflections. Fine nose, elegant with notes of citrus (lime), floral. Fresh attack, beautiful persistent acidity associated with notes of lime in retro olfaction. Pair with shellfish, crustaceans (crab clams, lobster), fresh fish , smoked, grilled or en terrine, white meats with Riesling based cream sauces, poultry, soft young mild cheeses.

Alcohol : 12.3% vol.
Residual sugar : 5.5 g/l
Total Acidity: 4.58 g/l
Aging potential: 3 to 8 years

Estate

In 1896 the Willm family founded the Willm Estate in Barr, at the foot of the majestic Kirchberg de Barr Grand Cru vineyard. Willm has always been concerned with revealing the best of its terroirs and sharing its exceptional wines with the whole world. Thanks to the adventurous founder Emile WILLM, the estate’s wines were the first from Alsace to be exported to the United States in the early 1930s, after prohibition laws were lifted. Their wines are celebrated for their blend freshness, minerality and elegance; they are synonymous with tradition, terroir, purity and refinement.

Tasting notes

Subtle zestiness on the nose of this wine signals freshness. The palate is juicy and round, with riper apple notes. Energy nonetheless pervades the light palate with gentle spritz. It's a fresh, clean wine with a dry, lip-smacking finish.

Vineyard

The Willm vineyard is located in the Barr region of northern Alsace at an altitude of 200-400 meters, extending from the mountainous base of the Vosges to the plains of Alsace and the Rhine. Bordered by the Vosges Mountains to the west, the Barr hillsides benefit from a dry and sunny microclimate thanks to their south-southeast exposure, optimal for cultivating the vines. The fluctuation between warm days and cool nights in autumn is conducive to a slow, prolonged grape maturation. Our diverse soils are a product of the region’s diverse landscape. The mountainous Vosges make way for smaller hills which stretch into various flatlands—just a few of about a dozen geological formations that comprise our region’s landscape. The vineyard itself consists primarily of granite and clay-limestone soils, while the coastal marine environment contributes to the terroir’s mineral-rich quality.

France Alsace Region Alsace