Why it matters
The producer
Dahlenheim is home to a family domaine now led by Mélanie Pfister, the eighth generation of the Pfister family to make wine there. Her father André began at the domaine in 1966 at age 15 and continues working the vineyards.
Mélanie is an oenologist with diplomas from the wine universities in Bordeaux and Dijon. She has also worked in Germany and New Zealand. The wines follow an aromatic, well balanced, rather dry style.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Dahlenheim is the Alsace village where the domaine is based. Its bottles carry both grape names, including Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer, and a named Grand Cru, Engelberg.
Grand Cru is a vineyard classification, so Grand Cru Engelberg places the wine within a named vineyard hierarchy. The range therefore moves from bottles identified by grape variety to a Riesling whose label names a classified site.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Mélanie and her father farm 10 hectares divided into 43 parcels. Approximately 25% of the vineyard is planted to Riesling.
Most wines are made and aged in steel tanks. The base range spends nearly a year ageing on lees before bottling, while the upper range ages 18 to 24 months. Lees are the spent yeast cells left after fermentation, and keeping wine on them can add texture and savoury depth without oak flavour.
Wines to know
The range in view
The domaine produces approximately 15 different wines annually, with overall production of roughly 5,000 cases.
Pinot Gris appears in several distinct bottles. Macération Pinot Gris macerates with the skins for around 15 days, ferments in steel and is raised in neutral oak. Silb Pinot Gris is fermented and aged in older 228 liter and 300 liter barrels, racked to steel after 15 months, then aged for another 3 to 9 months before bottling. Furd Pinot Gris comes from a steep hillside with rich, deep soil.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Choose Mélanie Pfister Macération Pinot Gris 2020. It is Pinot Gris made with skin contact, fermented in steel and raised in neutral oak.