Vintage 1997
1997 was certainly one of the easiest vintage in Alsace for years: an early flowering, warm summer with enough rain falls at the good moment, and a dry and warm weather from mid August until beginning of November. Exceptional weather conditions allowed early (28th October) and healthy harvests. The botrytis developed only in a few rare places, this explains why although the maturity levels were high, we decided to declare only one SGN and no VTs in 1997.
All the different grape varieties were harvested very ripe, producing aromatic, powerful and rich wines. Most of the wines were bottled in September 1998. The style of the vintage is an incredible power, normal acidity and lots of charm.
No wine was chaptalized in 1997 and most of them fermented relatively quicker than usual (all the wines but two were racked between December 97 and March 98). Our average yield on the Domaine was 43 hl/ha, with strong differences between the grape varieties and the origin. The highest being the Rieslings.