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.