03/30/2022
DRINK. THIS. IN.
The second of two custom bottlings for us from . The image is self-explanatory but the path this winery has embarked on is less obvious.
Imagine Alsace, France just after World War I. Humble farmers, freed from the bonds of German occupation, tending vineyards full of interplanted field blends, each vine a different grape variety, with fruit and nut trees springing up, in and around the rows…
The 40’s roll around, and after surviving yet another incursion, a new invader is ushered in: herbicide. And all those interplanted grape varieties that once ripened together, now saw themselves as separate, their mycorrhizal connections severed from the advent of chemical farming.
As a result of uneven ripening, Alsace starts replanting to single variety. And this is the state of play today for the region, and many others that succumbed to monoculture.
Decades later, it was no different for Jean-Michel Deiss, until he’s was bequeathed a relic of a vineyard with all interplanted vines. They stared up at him like a portal to a forgotten world, and inspired the domaine to convert all their holdings to field blends of various grape varieties, experimenting with orchard trees between the rows of some of their most coveted plots.
When you’re lost in the wilderness, and you find yourself retracing your steps to rejoin the trailhead, 10 paces back won’t always do. So has begun a similar journey with one winery and an orange wine whose depth has us floored.
