Domaine Alice Hartmann: Riesling from the Koeppchen terraces

A house built on the Koeppchen

The estate sits on rue Principale in Wormeldange, the village where, according to the Guide Hachette des Vins, Riesling finds its fullest expression in Luxembourg, on the south-facing Koeppchen hill. There, the domaine farms terraced plots on limestone soils that were never consolidated, planted with old Riesling vines, some around 70 years old, producing low yields. The Luxembourg wine and crémant promotion board lists the property at 12 hectares, with Palmberg and Koeppchen as its main sites and Hans-Joerg Befort as cellar master. Beyond Wormeldange, the range covers single-vineyard Rieslings from Ahn Palmberg, Grevenmacher Fels and Wintrange Felsberg, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the Clos du Kreizerberg in Grevenmacher, an ice wine, and a Sélection du Château series marked with three stars.

Crémant, distillates and German neighbours

Sparkling wine forms the second pillar of the house. The domaine bottles a Hartmann Brut, a Brut Rosé and a Grande Cuvée, its flagship according to the promotion board. Falstaff rated the Crémant Brut Rosé at 95 points, as it did the 2016 Wormeldange Koeppchen Riesling Les Terrasses, with 94 points for the 2018 Grevenmacher Fels. The estate also runs its own distillery, producing a Fine Alice Hartmann and marcs of Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and lists wines from the German Moselle and Saar, a Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Spätlese and a Scharzhofberg Spätlese. Visits are by appointment and the official website displays the crest of purveyor to the Grand Ducal Court. The Guide Hachette awarded a three-star Coup de Cœur to the 1999 Koeppchen Riesling.

One thing is for certain: each passing year is never the same as the last.

The 2023 harvest, told by the estate

Each year the domaine publishes its Chronicles. The 2023 edition describes a wet start, one of the hottest Junes since 1838 in Wormeldange, over 150 litres of rain per square metre in August, then sunburn in September. New vines went into the ground on 24 May. Pickers started at sunrise to avoid warm grapes and uncontrolled fermentation, and the team decided against any red wine that year, sending the Pinot Noir into the rosé crémant. The Rieslings on Ahn Palmberg, Grevenmacher Fels and Wintrange Felsberg were picked on 28 and 29 September, the Koeppchen terraces on 30 September, and the last grapes were pressed on 5 October, the earliest finish in the estate's history, at the cost of low yields.

This article was written by artificial intelligence and reviewed by our editors.