Wine & Spirits - Winter 2017 - 58

Domaine Marcel Deiss

TOP 100 WINERIES 2017

Jean-Michel Deiss makes a range of field blends that would startle and delight
even the staunchest advocate for pure riesling.
Rather than promote the fruit flavors of a single variety, Jean-Michel
Deiss presents the synthesis of a community of vines as the voice of
his grand cru vineyards. In Alsace, this was not officially allowed until
2005, when a law that required grand cru wines to be labeled by variety was overturned. Deiss's view, which might seem radical in Alsace,
would not be particularly outlandish in other great wine districts
of France. Even in Burgundy, where vineyards have mostly turned
toward monocultures of pinot noir or chardonnay, most any great
grower will tell you that varietal character is for common wine.
What's unusual about Deiss's approach is not only that he works
to select and farm vines to express the site rather than the variety.
He looks back in time, prior to phylloxera, when the biodiversity in
France's grand cru vineyards was several magnitudes greater than it
is today. For Deiss, the efficiencies of farming a monoculture-single
blocks of single varieties-does not make up for the clear evocation
of a site he can attain by allowing the plants to have a say in where
they want to grow. At Altenberg, near his winery in Bergheim, one
of his domaine's top sites, he farms 12 different varieties in a mixed
planting. It's a south-facing hillside in Ribeauvillé where two geological faults meet, crumbling limestone together with Jurassic marls. So
it would make sense that certain plants would thrive on one side of
the fault or the other and, on a more localized scale, that differences
in everything from aspect to soil moisture would benefit some plants

over others. Taking his cues from biodynamic principles, though not
following any prescribed rules, Deiss considers the perspective of
the plant, from its roots in the soil to its exposure to the sky. This is
not mysticism; it is a precise and thoughtful form of agriculture that
strengthens the connection of the wine to the site where it was grown.
The 2011 Altenberg de Bergheim is clear evidence of what Deiss
achieves through his farming. The wine mirrors the diverse garden of
vines with the high-toned buzz of wildflowers in a meadow, and it has
the same kind of visceral appeal as the fresh honey you might find in
a hive nearby. At his Schoenenbourg Grand Cru, a south-facing hillside in Riquewihr, Deiss is farming another mix of 12 varieties. The
2011 Schoenenbourg is more explosive in its power, turbocharged by
the water-holding capacity of the clay in the subsoil, below what Deiss
describes as a mix of "iridescent marls and Keuper gypsum covered
in sandstone." As compellingly silken as the Altenberg, its flavors are
more grounded, offering scents of both roots and flowers.
The varieties may be less varied in Deiss's lieu-dit wines, though the
terroir expression of Rotenberg in 2012 is no less explosive. This eastfacing hillside of Jurassic limestone covered in iron-rich soil is planted
to riesling and pinot gris. It grew an elegant white, with peach and
apple scents that turn wild and seductive as it opens with air. Even his
basic "terroir wine," the 2014 Alsace white, is a field blend of 13 varieties, which Deiss harvests and ferments together. It's completely dry,
with scents of peach blossoms and the lanolin note of a natural wine.
Anything but sleek and modern, this is a tightly focused view back in
time and a forward look at what Alsace wine could be. -J.G

Jean-Michel & Mathieu Deiss

DETAILS & TOP WINES
Founded: 1744 * Owners/winemakers/viticulturists:
Jean-Michel & Matthew Deiss * Acres owned: 66 * Annual
production: 10,000 cases * Estate grown: 100%
Importer: Verity Wine Partners, NY/Veritas, Los Angeles, CA
Website: marceldeiss.com

96 2011 Alsace Altenberg de Bergheim Grand Cru $97 (12/16)
94 2012 Alsace Rotenberg $52 (12/16)
94 2011 Alsace Schoenenbourg Grand Cru $95 (12/16)

F RANCE A LSACE
58

WINE & SPIRITS

BUYING GUIDE 2018

http://www.marceldeiss.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Winter 2017