2024 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Cuvée Ste. Catherine Grand Cru Schlossberg

The 2024 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Cuvée Ste. Catherine Grand Cru Schlossberg is one of the great dry Rieslings of Alsace. Hailing from the steep granite slopes of Schlossberg, this wine demonstrates how impressively Domaine Weinbach performed in the challenging 2024 vintage. The wine combines ripe citrus, Mirabelle, stony minerality, and exceptional freshness with aging potential that extends over several decades.

Domaine Weinbach

For many wine lovers, Domaine Weinbach is, without exaggeration, the benchmark estate of Alsace. For more than a century, the winery has belonged to the absolute world elite and is regarded as one of the most respected producers of dry Riesling, Gewürztraminer, and Pinot Gris.

The wines combine an almost Burgundian finesse with an impressive expression of the terroir and consistently rank among the finest produced in Alsace. The Grand Crus from Domaine Weinbach are produced annually in only very limited quantities and are beloved worldwide by collectors and enthusiasts.

For more information about Domaine Weinbach, please refer to the Winery tab.

Cuvée Ste. Catherine and Grand Cru Schlossberg

Cuvée Ste. Catherine is one of the most prestigious Rieslings from Domaine Weinbach. The wine comes from selected plots on the Grand Cru Schlossberg, the first officially recognized Grand Cru of Alsace. This steep vineyard consists of granite-rich soils with excellent drainage and produces Rieslings of exceptional precision, tension, and length.

Schlossberg is a terroir where Riesling can show its most mineral and refined side. The combination of altitude, exposure, and granite soil produces wines that combine power and ripeness with an almost razor-sharp freshness.

The 2024 volume

The Domaine Weinbach 2024 Grand Crus will be released in the coming months and are available from us as a premiere. For winemakers, 2024 was one of the most challenging vintages of the past few decades. A wet growing season with enormous disease pressure demanded the utmost from the vineyards and the Weinbach team.

As Eddy Leiber-Faller aptly described it: 2024 was a season to forget, but a vintage to remember. It was precisely in the steep Grand Cru vineyards, where the granite soils ensure perfect natural drainage, that wines emerged with impressive tension, precision, and exceptional aging potential.

The Schlossberg Rieslings are among the estate's great successes in 2024. The abundant rain was drained excellently here by the granite slope, allowing the grapes to be harvested healthy, ripe, and concentrated.

Scent, taste and character

The 2024 Riesling Cuvée Ste. Catherine Grand Cru Schlossberg opens restrained yet refined, with aromas of lemon balm, Mirabelle, lemon zest, and a subtle creamy touch. As the wine opens up, nuances of white flowers, wet granite, lime, and delicate spiciness emerge.

On the palate, the wine is tight, dry, and exceptionally precise. The ripeness is fully present but is supported by a lively acidity and a distinct stony minerality. The fruit is juicy and bright, with notes of Mirabelle, lemon, lime, and ripe citrus.

What makes this wine special is the combination of tension and ripeness. The wine feels taut and energetic, but never harsh. The acidity is perfectly embedded, and the mineral structure gives the wine length, depth, and an impressive verticality.

The finish is long, dry, briny, and mineral, with a lingering freshness of lemon zest, Mirabelle, and wet stone. A great dry Riesling that will only reveal its full complexity with bottle aging.

Drinking window and food and wine pairings

The 2024 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Cuvée Ste. Catherine Grand Cru Schlossberg has impressive aging potential. The optimal drinking window runs from 2030 to 2060.

Preferably serve the wine at 9 to 11°C.

This dry Grand Cru Riesling pairs excellently with oysters, langoustines, scallops, turbot, sushi, sashimi, ceviche, Asian dishes, poultry, veal, and refined dishes with white asparagus. Its tension also comes out beautifully with dishes featuring citrus, ginger, or light spiciness.