Magnificent wine with a fruity nose, ample and deepin mouth with a nice purity. The power of this wine is domesticated by a long breeding on dregs which gives an important purity in mouth. A keeping wine already attractive.
The name of HENGST means stallion.
The soil of the 360 meter high slope which dominates this vineyard is essentially a mixture of limestone from the Vosges, chalky marl (14% active) and layers of red, brown, green and beige sediment hundreds of meters thick. The mother rock is of an orange - yellow hue. Dating as far back as the Jurassic period the elements vary in density from very fine to very course. The Ph factor is within 7.8 to 8.3. This Grand Cru is 130.95 acres (53,02 Ha) of vines. The combined calcareous and marl soils tend to produce rich full bodied wines. In their youth they have an untamed character, reminiscent of the vineyard's name - "stallion". They slowly mature to astonishing aromatics and fabulous richness.
| Wine maker notes |
| From mid-December through to the middle of March temperatures remained close to zero. Winter came to a dramatic end in March with a dump of 60 cm of snow – something not seen since 1954. Easter was damp and cold and Spring finally arrived in the middle of April. Under good conditions in May, the vines pushed forth well. The June weather allowed for a successful flowering which was finished by the 23rd. July was extremely hot (36ºC) and dry. Some areas suffered from the dry spell but the rain arrived at the beginning of August and fell intermittently through the month (133 mm). Thanks to the biodynamic cultivation of Josmeyer’s vines, they survived well despite these climatic variations and the grapes reached good maturity in time for the planned harvest on 18th September. Less fortunately heavy rain fell on the 17th (28 mm) followed by another downpour on the 24th (21 mm) and again on 2nd October (65 mm in 2 days) which made it a singularly complicated harvest and meant that a fairly severe selection of the grapes was required to adhere to the high standards set out by the domain. |
| Technical notes |
| The grapes were hand picked and whole-bunch pressed very slowly and gently in pneumatic presses over 5-8 hours to give a clean must and a beneficial amount of skin contact. Transferred to thermo-regulated stainless steel tanks the juice then began a natural fermentation using only its own natural yeast which lasted for one month. The fermentation was initially temperature controlled but was eventually allowed to proceed at its own pace to allow the wine to develop its own character and complexity. The wine stabilized in stainless steel tanks naturally during the winter season and, following a very gentle filtering, was bottled in March 2007 before the heat of summer to preserve the natural carbonic gas (a natural anti-oxidant). Malolactic fermentation is always avoided at Josmeyer and no chaptalization takes place. |
| Food pairing |
| Foie gras in brioche – Thaï, Indian and Creole cooking – Gorgonzola – Munster – Roquefort... |
