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Producer Focus: Jean-Pierre Rietsch

Producer Focus: Jean-Pierre Rietsch

Alsace is such an amazing wine region. It's located in eastern France, bordering Germany. There are many communalities in the culture of food and wine between Alsace and Western Germany. It's a very interesting place to look up if you're a bit of a history geek as well. 

There are tonnes of great winemakers who make very approachable wines which are often punching way above their pricepoint. One of our favourites, not just in Alsace, but over the entire natural wine scene is Jean-Pierre Rietsch. He works with nearly every grape variety you can find in Alsace: Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer, Riesling, Muscat, Sylvaner and even the rare Savagnin Rose. You can learn more about him over here but in the meantime, here are some of our current favourites from him...

Stein 2020/23 is a blend of two vintages of Riesling from a single plot. It's rich, round, has a great backbone of acidity, but some really complex flavours, including hints of petrol and umami notes. It's stunning with food as well. Often his wines are very precise but this vintage has a subtle wild side which we are certainly not going to complain about!

<p>Riesling<br>Stein 2020/23<br>Rietsch</p>

If you're after something more fun and fruity, you can't go wrong with Coquette 2023: 11.5% alcohol, a blend of Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and Gewurztraminer, this wine is bursting with strawberries, ripe nectarines, flowery notes and tropical notes. Can't recommend enough. We recently featured as our number 1 chilled red to drink this summer!

<p>Riesling / Pinot Noir / Gewurztraminer<br>Coquette 2023<br>Rietsch</p>

Or go with one of his entry level cuvées, Tout Blanc Litre 2023, made in a 1 litre format, a blend of white varieties, it's refreshing and simple but loves to sit on the dinner table to be shared. Great value too.

Let's talk a bit about his red wines. They're often very fruit forward, but show a lot of depth at the same time. Essentially, they're not just easy going 'glou glou' reds. And we like them for it. Stierkopf 2022 is 100% Pinot Noir, made in a semi-carbonic maceration. This has hints of candied cherry, but also earthy notes and with age would certainly become a very long wine, not dissimilar Burgundian Pinot Noirs as it is made from the  same Pinot Noir clone but with more emphasis on the fruit. 

<p>Pinot Noir<br>Stierkopf 2022<br>Rietsch</p>

Let's finish off with an often misunderstood grape variety that many are afraid of: Muscat. It carries many other names in other countries, but one thing is for sure: it's an aromatic grape which often displays overtly fruity and/or floral notes. Murmure 2023 is a skin contact wine made from Muscat grapes This winemaking technique rounds off some of those 'in your face' flavours and delivers a more refined and sophisticated wine with flavours of white peache, apricot and tea like characteristics. Delicious before dinner, sat in the garden, eating almonds and discussing Callum's latest love interests. (Editor note: who the hell is Callum?)

<p>Muscat<br>Murmure 2023<br>Rietsch</p>

Head over here to see everything we currently have in stock from one of our favourites.

Happy drinking, and see you soon!

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