From vine to wine

Picking and pressing

After six months of care and efforts in the vineyard, the colour of the grapes changes from green to yellow, then from yellow to gold or pink, in a few weeks. Everything accelerates: harvest time draws near.

Harvest time is the most intense period of the year. The entire harvest comes from our estate. We have been looking after the vines for years. And because we know our vineyards, we can easily foresee the development of each parcel and decide on the date of the picking. The harvest spreads over a long period, between 5 and 6 weeks.

It is essential to respect the entirety of the grapes to produce a great wine. The clusters are picked and sorted by hand in the vineyard. They are then conveyed to the cellars with care and put delicately into the presses.

The pneumatic presses make the juice run gently avoiding too strong extractions. The pressing process is as long as possible (from 5 to 10 hours). The point is to bring out a maximum of aromatic elements from the berry, slowly, without extracting bitterness or vegetal tastes.

The first litres of juice and the musts extracted at high pressure are separated at the outflow of the presses. Only the heart of the crop is kept to produce our cuvees (the other juices will be blended into Edelzwicker).

The musts are immediately cooled down. Low temperatures help the settling of heavy and rough elements. Next, the clear juices are racked in old oak tuns or stainless steel vats, where the fermentation process will take place.

Winemaking and ageing

Most of the fermentation process starts naturally, but selected yeasts can be added to the musts in some cases. All the vats and tuns are temperature-controlled. This allows the alcoolic fermentation to be slow and regular. They last 2 to 3 weeks for the Crémant, up to 6 to 8 months for rich cuvees, bringing finesse and aromatic complexity to the wine.

As a rule, we do not look for malolactic fermentation for our white wines. Nevertheless, they occur every year in a few wines. In these cases, we don’t try to stop them, these types of fermentation contribute to the balance of the wine.

The wines are aged as long as possible on their lees after the fermentation. The deposits enrich the wine and help it to reach its stability. Such an ageing process can avoid enological treatments like cold stabilization or fining.

The bottling is carried out between April and September, after filtration (through earth filter and plate filter). Lastly, the wines complete their ageing in bottles in our cellars. They will be sold when they are ready, some bottles after 1 month, some other after 5 years!

Crémant d’Alsace

In the 17th century, the famous Champagne wines were born from a coincidence of the nature (a second fermentation) and the genius of some monks. Nowadays, the process used to elaborate crémant, the “méthode traditionnelle”, is inspired by the champagne method.

The vineyards from which the crémant d’Alsace stems are the same as for the AOC Alsace. Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Auxerrois, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are the varieties allowed for this production. Contrary to the Alsace wine tradition, the greatness of the crémant comes from the blending. We blend the different grapes and even the different years when the vintage is not written on the bottle.

At harvest time, we process the grapes for the crémant like the other white cuvees. These wines are bottled in the spring, when nature awakens after its long winter rest. The period is favourable to yeast activity. We add a yeast preparation and sugar to the wine, which provokes a second alcoholic fermentation in the bottle. The carbon dioxide formed dissolves in the wine. This gas, formed naturally, will generate the effervescence of the crémant.

At the Paul BUECHER estate, we store the bottles on laths between 12 and 36 months. This ageing enables our crémant to enrich from its lies and increases its aromatic complexity.

Before the release of the wine, we have to remove the deposit that lies in the bottle. The bottles are first riddled on racks to collect the lies in the neck. Then, the disgorging consists in freezing the deposit in order to remove it and to close again the bottle with the definitive cork and a wire-cap.

Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir is the only red grape variety in Alsace. At the Paul BUECHER estate, it has a privileged place in the vineyard with the best terroirs, in the cellar with a top wine-making process and in our range with about six cuvees a year.

The Pinot Noir of some young vines is macerated for one night, or even pressed right after the picking to produce our Rosé d'Alsace or the rare Crémant d'Alsace Rosé.

Our reds have to be fruity wines, not too tannic but with an intense colour. The grapes are de-stemmed and put into maceration so that the skins give their colour to the must. This maceration lasts as long as the alcoholic fermentation. We see to it, however, that it does not exceed 7 or 8 days to avoid over-extraction. After pressing, the wines undergo their malolactic fermentation and are aged in large oak tuns. These containers help the wine to breath but do not bring any wooden aromas.

The special Pinot Noir cuvees (Les Terrasses, “H”…) come from specific terroirs. The grapes are more concentrated or richer. They undergo a longer maceration period (10-15 days) and are aged in oak barrels. The bottling occurs only after one and a half years of ageing. These Pinot Noir are meant for a long laying down.