Laurent Bannwarth
2015
Riesling Nature
Riesling
Alsace, France

This small winery in Obermorschwihr exists since 1968 started by Laurent and Suzanne Bannwarth. After his studies in viticulture their son, Stéphane joined them in 1987. Nowadays his sister Regine and is wife Geneviève all help in making very outstanding wines. Once they took over the winery from their parents, they converted it to organic in 2004. And since then they haven’t stopped evolving their winemaking. In 2011 they also started making amphorae wines, because Stéphane loved them when a helper from Georgia introduced Kvevri wines to him. Currently, they are transforming the cellar to have more space for amphorae and the huge old barrels which they still use.

The grapes for this white wine come from hillsides with loess and limestone. After harvest, the grapes are being direct pressed and left to age on their lees for 24 months. They only use stainless steel for this, which gives it a very pure expression. This wine has reached perfect drinkability now after two years in the bottle. If you have the time and planning skills, you should open it the day before to have it come back to life. With a golden color and light floral and fruity notes, it’s still a very mineral-driven wine which you should consume with something equally subtle like Japanese food.

This wine is part of
 
Volume 12: The Alsace Edition