Schieferkopf Gewürztraminer

The German denomination VDP Pfalz, lying a few kilometres west of the Rhine River towards the French border, is one of the largest regions in the world. The vineyards, between the Rhine (to the west) and the Palatinate forest (to the east), cover about 85 km on different types of soils like limestone, clay, basalt and marl. Perhaps this variety is the reason behind the great richness and quality of this region, making it one of the most special wine regions in the world. Always in a controlled and environmentally friendly manner, the Palatinate has produced wines of great quality, like Schieferkopf Gewürztraminer.

Schieferkopf Gewürztraminer is a single-variety Gewürztraminer white wine made by Schieferkopf, the project run by French vigneron Michel Chapoutier and four friends since the beginning of the year 2000 with the aim of finding original and interesting soils and areas to make wines from.

This is how they found that this area is one of the warmest in Germany, with 1,800 hours of sunshine per year and warm air masses rising over the Rhine plains from the south. The Gewürztraminer variety is more than guaranteed to ripen properly. At harvest time, the grapes are harvested by machine. Once they reach the winery, Schieferkopf Gewürztraminer is crushed and undergoes a pre-fermentation maceration. For 12 hours the Schieferkopf Gewürztraminer must stays in contact with the skin. Once this time has passed, the grape pulp is gently pressed for 4 hours and then transferred to a stainless steel tank where, at low temperatures, it is cleaned of all impurities and small herbaceous substances that will fall through decantation. This results in a cleaner and better quality must to start fermenting. When it is ready, the yeasts will start their work, which lasts several weeks at low temperatures (between 17ºC and 19ºC). Finally, once it has been made into wine, Schieferkopf Gewürztraminer is aged on fine lees for 3 months.