Spit Shine (Domaine Marcel Deiss Recent Releases)

Spit Shine (Domaine Marcel Deiss Recent Releases)

2011 Domaine Marcel Deiss Gruenspiel Bergheim (Alsace, $NA)

Domaine Marcel Deiss is still a family-run outfit, utilizing about 20 people and overseeing about 30 hectares of vineyards, many of which are old vine field blends (or, as they like to call them “companion implanted” vines) of Alsace’s key grape varieties, with roots deep enough that the different varieties essentially ripen around the same time. Deiss’ focus is now solely on vineyard site (rather than on variety), as well as on biodiversity, minimal sulfur additions, and no filtration. Lest you think that this apparently hands-off approach should make life at Deiss simpler, Jean-Michel’s son Mathieu echoed his father’s sentiment regarding the amount of extra work required by their approach; “with ‘organic’ wine, you have to be more precise in the cellar, not less.” At which point, he offered up the next generation’s version of daddy’s ripped pants: based on his cell phone, he had logged the equivalent of 100 kilometers of walking in the last four days alone…
2012 Domaine Marcel Deiss Altenberg de Bergheim (Alsace Grand Cru, $87)
2013 Domaine Marcel Deiss Mambourg (Alsace Grand Cru, $90)
This is a great place to start with the overall Deiss concept in terms of affordability, but also concerning philosophy. This white is a blend of thirteen unique varieties, including Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Auxerrois, Pinot Beurot, Pinot Noir, pink and white Muscat, Sylvaner, Chasselas, and (naturally) Riesling. The plantings are from clones, than it is kitchen-sink-dilution, and the result is harmony. Tropical.

Or, in my case, you put it on the Internet to share it with total strangers. Anyway, we were talking about spit.

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This site benefits from a mixture such as clay-calcareous deposits and limestone. Tropical fruit and citrus flavors combine with marmalade, honey, and a mouthfeel that’s resin notes and sweet candy, with aromas of white flowers and vanilla added to the mix. All of the Alsatian varieties appear in this field mix, and somehow it all adds up to a sum much greater than we should expect from its constituent parts.

You’ll have a difficult time finding a bottle of this field blend of Riesling, Pinot Noir, and Gewürztraminer; which is a shame, as this wine is a singular experience. The site’s name basically means “draughtboard,” and is meant to describe the varied topsoil there, including deposits of granite, gneiss, and sandstone over marl. As Mathieu Deiss put it, “we assume some people won’t like it; once you’ve got character, you assume not everybody will like you.” I can assure you that this wine is not. It’s mature but also lively, expressive, broad, refreshing, youthful, and at turns. Stone fruits and something delicious and funky mix with blossoms, spices, and smoke.
The result of all this grit and focus are wines of high quality and glistening innocence of expression. And, yes, salivasjɔ̃. A spit shine on wine that is fine, if you will.

“You don’t have to be an expert for that. And there’s no salivation without terroir. It’s like geography in the mouth.
That winegrowers since 1744, his loved ones, are established as the Alsatian version of winemaking royalty helps him to get away with it.
A softer limestone soil dominates at this site, which can be rocky and windy (helping reduce rot). It’s a wine by Alsatian criteria, with hints of vanilla and vanilla, and a bit of tannic bite. Floral and flinty and round without being fruity, yet staying overtly flirty.

This site sits on iron-rch Jurassic limestone, which makes it one of the oldest soils with which Diess works. Basically, this is a blend of Reisling and “the whole Pinot family” as they put it. Lemon, ground, citrus peel, flowers, honey, lemon drop candy, limes… that is at once fleshy/fruity and astringent. For Alsace, it is downright seductive.

Published at Wed, 20 Sep 2017 12:32:54 +0000

Jean-Michel Deiss likes to speak spit.

2012 Domaine Marcel Deiss ‘Rotenberg’ Bergheim (Alsace, $45)

“Wine today is an industrial project,” he told me (through interpretation) during a media tour visit to Domaine Marcel Deiss‘ Bergheim winery. “But great wine is not a question of taste. Great wine is like a [great] book; when you finish reading, you look for someone you love [to share it with].”

The soil here is gravelly, at a spot that’s a “cannon shot” away from the medeival fortress in Bergheim, with naturally dry soils that stress the vines (in partciular the Riesling) and help to limit yields. Orange peel, pear, white flowers, and yes, a hell of a lot of stone and mineral notes are found. It linear and lively, with the Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Beurot, Muscat, and Pinot Noir mixing damn-near seamlessly together.
Oligocene limestone, magnesium, and marl indicate this site, which has had a reputation for making good juice since at least the Middle Ages. Structured, pure, and pithy, this Pinot-family blend offers citrus flavors, a sense of power, and a presentation in the mouth that’s almost Burgundian. In a word, it is fascinating (spoken with Mr. Spock inflection).
“It’s not an efficient idea,” he added, at which point he showed multiple rips in his pants, presumably the result of his efforts in the vineyard and the cellar.

Source: Wine