Klevener de Heiligenstein

Klevener de Heiligenstein or Heiligensteiner Klevener (or Alsace - Klevener de Heiligenstein) is a protected designation of origin within the AOC- Alsace. The only permitted grape variety is the Savagnin Rose , a mutation of the Savagnin . The designation of origin only applies to an area of ​​max. 87.70 hectares, which is spread over the communities of Bourgheim , Gertwiller , Goxwiller , Heiligenstein and Obernai . According to the current regulations, new planting of the specific grape variety outside the appellation area is no longer permitted. There, outside of the appellation area, the use of this appellation designation is only permitted until 2021.

Compared to a Gewürztraminer , the wines are significantly more neutral, have more acidity and a lower alcohol content. Good specimens clearly gain in profile after four to five years of bottle aging and can be very long-lived. When also known in Alsace Klevner is, however, to vine wines White Burgundy .

The sale of wine in barrel is prohibited in Alsace. When it is sold, the wine has to be filled in bottles, which are narrow and high here. The bottles are known as flûte (flute) because of their shape .

history

The Savagnin Rose grape variety was introduced to the Alsace region in 1740 by Erhard Wantz, the mayor of Heiligenstein. Ampelographers believe that Wantz imported the seedlings from the Chiavenna area in Lombardy . Chiavenna was called Cleven in German at that time. In 1971 the current special status for the Klevener de Heiligenstein was established.

Savagnin rose and the Gewürztraminer can only be distinguished from one another with the eye by very experienced ampelographers. The visually most obvious difference is the transparency of the berry peel just before the color of the berry changes (French veraison ). However, a genetic differentiation can be made by means of DNA analysis. Until the beginning of the 1970s, winemakers often did not know why certain Gewürztraminer wines did not have the usual floral bouquet . For this reason, it was usually only after the vinification that a decision was made as to which wine was to be declared as Gewürztraminer and which wine as Traminer. Both Savagnin rose and Gewürztraminer were mostly unintentionally in a mixed sentence . Only after clarification of this fact of different grape varieties was the use of the name Traminer in Alsace generally prohibited in 1973. The area around Heiligenstein was an exception, as the proportion of the Savagnin Rose vine there was unusually high.

See also

• Viticulture in France

Individual evidence

1. ^ INAO: AOC Alsace regulations , especially Article 4.II.
2. ^ J. Robinson (ed): "The Oxford Companion to Wine" Third Edition, Oxford University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-19-860990-6 . P. 382.
3. ↑ Vins par régions / Alsace " Klevener de Heiligenstein ( Memento of the original from June 24, 2007 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note . "(French) Last viewed: 3 January 2008 

literature

• Pierre Galet : Cépages et Vignobles de France . Lavoisier, Paris 2004, ISBN 2-7430-0585-8 .
• Benoît France: Grand Atlas des Vignobles de France . Éditions SOLAR, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-263-03242-8 .