Giannikos Winery - Domaine Weinbach

Domaine Weinbach, also known as Clos des Capucins, is not only one of the best Alsace domains, the refined and concentrated white wines are considered to be among the best in the world. The winery, which takes its name from the stream that flows through the vineyards on the spot, is located between the villages of Kaysersberg and Kientzheim and has a history that goes back a long way. In 860, the Abbey d'Etival obtained through a donation land that now belongs to the current vineyards of Domaine Weinbach.

A wall was built around a part of this plot in the early seventeenth century by Capuchin monks. This 5 hectare vineyard is the still existing Clos des Capucins. After the French Revolution, the vineyards and monastery were expropriated and sold by the state. Ultimately, it was the Faller brothers, two tanners from nearby Kaysersberg, who bought and refurbished the dilapidated abbey and its Clos des Capucins in 1898. Théo Faller continued the work of his father and uncle with great energy. He bought parts of surrounding Grand Cru vineyards such as Furstentumen, Schlossberg, Mambourg and Marckrain and brought the wines of Domaine Weinbach to an unprecedented level. With the third generation, the wines got even more refinement and depth, because from 1988 they first switched to organic viticulture and then in 2005 the choice was made to do the 28 hectares of vineyards and winemaking entirely according to biodynamic principles. The result is amazing; the white wines now have an unprecedented minerality, finesse and concentration. It is the result of natural preparations, acting according to the position of the moon and stars, drastic pruning at an early stage, hand picking grapes with optimal ripeness, with very low yields and preferably with the first effects of the noble rot and further a vinification with as little intervention as possible.