Céline and Stéphane warmly welcomed us to Domaine Stentz-Buecher to learn about all the work in the cellar after the harvest right up until the moment when the wine is bottled, labelled, packaged and ready to be enjoyed!   This organic winery in Alsace is run by the brother and sister duo, and as we would learn from them, there is much more to making wine that you might at first imagine!

 

 

After the introductions and welcome coffee, we made a quick visit to our adopted vines that are located in the Rosenberg vineyard, as it is after all here that the wine starts out.  Without the best quality grapes, it’s very difficult to make a good wine!  We took a few photos of our vines, and Céline explained the different terroir of the surrounding vineyards, a great foundation for some of the wines we would taste later in the day.

Back at the winery, we followed the journey that the grapes take during harvest time.  Stéphane explained how the grapes are pressed for the white wines, and how the pinot noir grapes are separated from their stems and put directly into the vats for the maceration to take place during the alcoholic fermentation phase.
We visited the barrel room to see where the red and white wines that are aged in oak barrels rest.  Stéphane explained the benefits the barrels bring through the micro-oxygenation process, and how it’s important to keep the barrels topped up to replace the angel’s share that is lost to evaporation.

We then made our way into the fermentation hall where the vast majority of the winery’s white wines are stored.  Stéphane talked us through the fermentation phases and explained the differences between the ancient oak casks and the more recent stainless-steel vats.   
He gave us a taste of the 2021 Pinot Gris Rosenberg wine that is still in the ageing process and won’t be ready until later in the year.  It was very interesting to taste, as it’s very unusual to get the chance to taste a wine that hasn’t yet finished.  We then compared it to a wine that is still in the malo-lactic fermentation phase.  Straight away we could see that the second wine was cloudier, had a slightly yeasty smell, and fizzed a little in the mouth.

Stéphane explained how the wines will change during the ageing process, and he passionately explained his vision of wine-making, and drummed home the importance to him of deliberately reducing the quantity of grapes produced to be able to make more concentrated and aromatic wines.  
We then headed out into the courtyard to make the most of the sun, and to start tasting some of the finished wines.   Céline had prepared a blind tasting for us to highlight the difference between grape varietals and the impact that different terroir can have. 

We then sat down to a traditional Alsace lunch of choucroute, local cheeses, and Black Forest gateau, all accompanied with more wines.  By the end of the meal, we had tasted three different Riesling wines including a Riesling Steingrubler Grand Cru, the 2019 vintage of the Pinot Gris Rosenberg wine chosen for the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience, the 2017 Pinot Gris Pfersigberg Grand Cru, a Crémant d’Alsace sparkling wine, two Gewurztraminer wines including the 2019 Hengst Grand Cru, and the Who Am I? wine that is a blend of Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Riesling.   The variety and range of wines was extraordinary.
In the afternoon, we headed back down into the cellar to learn all about the final stages of the wine-making process to bottle the wines.  Stéphane explained how the wines are filtered to remove any remaining lee particles and showed us the bottling machine that fills and corks the bottles. 

We then moved onto the machine used to label and put the capsules over the tops of the bottles, and the final machine that tapes us the boxes.

The day ended in the wine library where Stéphane and Céline have an impressive collection of their old vintage wines.  Many thanks to all of the participants for helping make it such a fun day, and to the winemakers for opening their doors and talking about their job in such a no-nonsense and frank way.