Domaine Marcel Deiss

Alsace, France

Jean-Michel Deiss is descended from a family of winegrowers who first settled Bergheim in 1744, and the grandson of Marcel Deiss, who founded the family winery in 1947. Jean-Michel was forced by circumstance to run his family estate, and unwillingly made to attend oenology school. Once he started producing his own wines, he set about rejecting most of what he had been taught and time and again finding his own path. Over the course of twenty-five years Jean-Michel has brought Domaine Marcel Deiss into its modern era, and become acknowledged as one of the greatest white wine producers in the world.

Jean-Michel rejects varietal purity in favor of vineyard expression. As much philosopher as wine grower, his goal is low vigor in order to drive the vines' roots deep and thereby transmit the character of the subsoil. The Deiss vineyards were organically farmed for over 20 years, and have been biodynamic since 1997. Most of the Estate's 67 acres are co-planted with a mixture of Riesling, Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris along with other noble varieties. This fact in itself is not unusual in Alsace since many Grand Cru sites include a number of different varieties. However, rather than separating them and bottling them as varietal wines, Jean-Michel treats them as a true field blend, and consequently harvests, vinifies and blends them together. French regulations formerly permitted Grand Cru blends only if the varietals were declared on the label. Jean-Michel refuted this idea, believing strongly that Grand cru terroirs must dominate varietal characters. His Grand Cru wines were therefore labeled in violation of former wine regulations, until the French authorities validated his ideas by changing the AOC laws in June 2005. Jean-Michel Deiss' project is today perceived by many of his neighbors as radical, even revolutionary. In reality, his goal is a return to the methods, style, and traditions that gave Alsace wines such fame and fortune from the Middle Ages until the end of the 19th century.

Density of planting at Deiss is very high with 8,000 vines per hectare on average and up to 12,000 in the Schoenenbourg and Mambourg vineyards. Vines are severely pruned to concentrate the photosynthetic efforts of the plant into fewer bunches of grapes, producing an average yield for the Estate of only 40 hectoliters per hectare (25-30 for grand cru site), half of the average yield in Alsace. Grapes are harvested over a two-week period, and each day's harvest is stopped when the three pneumatic presses are full. Deiss uses a very gentle pressure over a twenty four hour period, filling his presses only once per day so that the skins are not severely ruptured and the juice literally aspirates through the skins of the grapes. Using only indigenous yeasts, the fermentation begins naturally and continues at low temperatures over a four to six week period, either in stainless steel tanks for the wines from the lighter soils, or in large wooden casks for the more powerful wines. After the alcoholic fermentation the malolactic is inhibited, and the wines rest on their lees for six to eight months. Prior to bottling, the wines are racked once, and then bottled without fining or filtration.

Jean-Michel Deiss has focused his efforts on producing complex and concentrated wines that can be devided in the following categories:

• Terroir Wines: field blends of varietals designated, indeed dominated, by their terroir and soil specificity, which are referred to as Premiers Crus (AOC classification pending) and as AOC-recognized Grands Crus;

• Varietal Wines: varietally labeled wines from a single designated commune or village. In these wines, the variety dominates and is completed by the characteristics of the vintage. These wines are fresh and well-balanced, quickly and easily enjoyed;

• Wines of Time: classic late harvest wines with the Vendange Tardive and Sélection de Grains Nobles designations.

“Just about any French vineyard owner will talk terroir given the opportunity, but no one argues the case for terroir more passionately than Marcel Deiss.” Robert Parker

“Jean-Michel Deiss has been growing some of the finest wines in Alsace for more than a quarter century and with them – as well as with his passionately articulate discourse – capturing the imagination and affection of wine enthusiasts world-wide. But the bearded sage of Bergheim is never satisfied, and beginning in the late eighties, he began to completely re-think his wines and means of truly embracing his terroirs. The result was new acquisitions and plantings to achieve (beginning a decade ago) single-vineyard, field-blend bottling the likes of which had scarcely been seen in Alsace for the better part of a century, and to certain of which the governing authorities have recently been persuaded (perhaps as much by Deiss’ metaphysics of terroir as by the profundity of his vinous results) to grant the status “Grand Cru.” Wine Advocate, February 2008