92 Points, RP Wine Advocate Sep 2024 “A pure Pinot Gris that has been gently pressed "à la Champenoise". It is...
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$94.00
Description
92 Points, RP Wine Advocate Sep 2024 “A pure Pinot Gris that has been gently pressed "à la Champenoise". It is deep and intense, indicating ripe and intense fruit intertwined with a complex minerality and calcareous marl expression. On the palate, this wine is medium to full-bodied, elegant and refined, remarkably saline and savory and provided with generous but elegant fruit, vibrantly mineral freshness and a serious structure. The finish is focused, aromatic and fine, with perfectly ripe fruit that is discreet and interwoven with the terroir elements of this excellent and stimulating white.”
Description
They are marketed as Vin de France, but please don't fall in agony. The six white wines I have tasted are unlike everything I have tasted from Alsace so far. That doesn't mean they are not "typical," yet what exactly do we mean when speaking of typicité? Alsatian grapes from Alsace terroirs, pressed like Champagne grapes and vinified like Burgundies? This sounds different compared to Alsatian standards, yet before debates could have started, Hunter|McKirdy decided to save their energy for all the hand work and passion with which they farm their vines.
The harvest is early and by hand, with particular attention paid to maintaining a low pH. Botrytis is avoided. In the winery, the grapes for the white wines are pressed very gently, à la Champenoise, to an extraction level of less than 70%, using a hydraulic basket press. Without débourbage, the wines are transferred to old (10+ fillings) Burgundy barrels, where they ferment with natural yeast. They undergo a complete malolactic conversion, without decanting and without adding sulfur dioxide. They are bottled unfiltered and unembellished. The free sulfur dioxide content is corrected to 15 to 20 milligrams per liter at bottling, if necessary for stability.
Red wines are also produced (100% whole-bunch fermented Pinot Noir, with maceration lasting a full moon cycle) yet weren't bottled when I tasted the wines. 2023 is the first vintage of this domaine, and the wines couldn't be more different from those that Marc Tempé produced in Zellenberg for nearly 30 years.
Product Info
Closure: Screwcap
Bottle Size: 750 ml
Brand: Hunter | McKirdy
Country: France
Region:Alsace
Alcohol:
What The Critics Say
The Vin de France 2023 Les Forêts Oubliées (translated in English as "the forgotten forests") is a pure Auxerrois from the hills around Zellenberg (Haut-Rhin, Alsace) that were once densely populated by native forests as they are today with vines. From 30-year-old vines in the lieu-dit Harth with soils that are composed of a shallow layer of glacial moraine (gravel) over early Jurassic (or "Lias") limestone-marl. At an altitude of 290 meters and facing east-southeast, this is a cool, late-ripening site. Indeed, the lemon-yellow colored wine opens like a fine Crémant that intermingled its ripe, lush and elegant aromatic fruit with sur lie and reductive limestone aromas. Aged in old barrels for nine months, this is a charming, generously textured white with the lush and elegant fruit of Auxerrois and the saline and complex finish of the Zellenberg terroir. The wine is beautifully balanced yet fresh and tensioned, even provided with fine tannins, serious citrus bitters and fresh lemon juice. which balances the frisky generosity. The finish is both reductive and oxidative, yet it's just an idea or not quite real. I admit, I fell a little bit in love with this sappy, quaffable style. 12.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in November 2024.
Critic Name: RP Wine Advocate Sep 2024
Critic Score:92 Points
ABOUT THIS BRAND
Hunter | McKirdy
After years working at Domaine Zind-Humbrecht — with Paul McKirdy as Chef de Cave and Jolene Hunter leading Export — Jolene and Paul launched Domaine Hunter | McKirdy in 2023. Their dream was simple but ambitious: to build a small, hands-on estate where they could farm entirely by hand, work on a range of incredible micro terroirs and bottle precise, site-specific wines that push the boundaries of traditional Alsatian wine.
Jolene and Paul farm 3.5 hectares of Grand Cru vineyards in Zellenberg in Alsace, a prized pocket of early Jurassic limestone-marl soils, with many old vines averaging over 45 years of age. The vineyard work is rigorous — lightweight 'caterpillar' tractors are used only for ploughing, and everything else is done manually to protect the vitality of the soil.
In the cellar, they break from Alsatian tradition: grapes are pressed slowly and gently using Champagne methods, then fermented and aged in old Burgundian barrels. The wines are bottled as Vin de France in Burgundy-shaped bottles, reflecting their decision to step outside AOP expectations in pursuit of freedom and creativity.
Stylistically, these wines remind us somewhere between lean, high energy Loire whites paired with texture and density you would usually find in the Southern parts of the Jura.
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