Weinbach Alsace 'S' Pinot Noir 2020

Biodynamic. From the 2020 vintage, this wine has been renamed La Colline du Château, after this Schlossberg lieu-dit’s cadastral name, Au Château. Somewhat confusingly, the label we got this year still refers to the previous name “S”, as Weinbach had to bottle with this label for the US market. The Château referenced in the name is the iconic Château de Kaysersberg, pictured at the top of this offer, whose ruins preside over the town and lie a stone’s throw from the western boundary of the Schlossberg Grand Cru.

With precious few bottles, we have yet to taste this release. However, Eddy Faller explains that, compared to the limestone of Altenbourg, the granitic soils gift this bottling a more linear and ‘smoky’ mineral style against the rounder and more supple limestone-raised wine. Cropped from steeply terraced, pre-clonal era 1960s vines, it was fermented with 50% whole bunches and aged for two years in Burgundian barrels (20% new); Pigott’s note below reflects not only a terrific year for Alsace Pinot but also the great strides Weinbach has made under the current generation.