Domiane Ostertag Gewürztraminer "Les Jardins" Vendanges Tardive 2017 Alsace - France

“Jardins” are the Ostertag “gardens,” small plots of vines scattered around their home and cellars in Epfig, in the Bas-Rhin section of northern Alsace. They are pampered just like gardens, and the resulting series of wines displays a purity of expression that is one of the signatures of the house style. This is a sweet and unctous late-harvest wine.

To call André Ostertag a revolutionary winemaker is to tell just half the story. He is a pioneer, certainly, but also an ardent environmentalist. After training in Burgundy, André returned to the family domaine in Alsace with renewed zeal: he lowered yields considerably and introduced viticultural and vinification techniques from other regions to his own home ground. He looks for the nuance of terroir rather than the typicity of a grape varietal. André rejects formulaic, scientifically engineered wines, and since going biodynamic in 1997, has been an active member of the natural farming community.