Domaine Valentin Zusslin

About

Our vineyard dates back to 1691 when it was created by Cisele Jodocus. Now, more than 300 years later, the estate is still flourishing and engages the endeavours of three generations of the same family. Today it is Arlette, Jean-Paul, and Marie ZUSSLIN , and the whole Zusslin team who perpetuate these ancestral traditions. Our vineyard (16 hectares) is in Orschwihr, a village 12 miles from Colmar, in the south of the region. Our climate (“semi-continental” which is particularly warm, sunny and dry).ensures slow, extended ripening of the grapes which in turn favours the development of extremely elegant aromas in the wine. We produce the entire range of Alsace wines from a wide variety of soils found on the hill overlooking Orschwihr which is called the Bollenberg. Our estate owns vines in the finest site, a Grand Cru called "Pfingstberg”. The name Pfingstberg can be traced right back to 1299 when the land was donated to the Unterlinden Convent by the knight Richard d’Epfig. Our third terroir is the Clos Liebenberg: “Love hill”. The highest parts of Pfingstberg comprise chalky sandstone soils overlaying mica sandstone. The character of our wines, strongly reflects our “terroirs”, having very floral aromas and mineral flavours. All the biodynamic preparations are home made and some parcels are spread only with herbal sprays. Since March 2004, horses have been slowly integrated into our biodynamic work to plough the ground, especially on the Clos Liebenberg. We produce our own compost and a lot of works in the vineyard are done by hand. The grape harvest is exclusively done by hand: nice selections of the well matured fruit. The grapes are pressed slowly and gently (8 to 12 hours) to give a high quality juice. Once in the cellar our main objective is to be minimalist; we don't interfere with the natural process of the fermentation and of the birth of the wine. After fermentation, wines are aged on the fine yeast lees left over from fermentation in oak wood tanks, barrels for the red wine and stainless steel tanks which are reduced each year. The wood brings complexity and balance to wine and no wood aromas. No synthetic or chemical treatments are used during the wine making process; only natural yeast from the grapes and natural sugar of the berries. Biodynamics: 1997. Ecocert certification since 1997. Our wines are marketed under the Demeter and Biodyvin Certification symbols since 2000. Renaissance des Appellations and ACT members.

At a glance

• Typical visit: about 1 hour 30 minutes