Cave Vinicole Hunahwir

Alsace

Cave Vinicole de Hunawihr is a cooperative located in the heart of the Grands Crus region of Alsace in France.

The policy is aimed at expanding the selective vinification process, which has been developed for many years to offer a wide choice of wines. The range includes generic wines, wines awarded gold medals in major wine competitions, Lieux-dits, Grands Crus, sparkling wines, Late Harvest and Noble Selected Grapes.

Our philosophy

As a human-sized company, our philosophy is to vinify our production in accordance with the rich diversity of Alsatian soils. Formulated 100% with our grapes, we offer our customers a whole range of quality wines recognized by the press all over the world.

With 25% of sales abroad, we adapt our sales strategy to the different markets to implement a strong partnership with each customer. We guarantee regular follow-up and sales support through the reactivity, availability and flexibility of our team.

Such involvement ensures both the winemaking of "specialties" (Grands Crus, Lieux-dits) and the ability to answer important operations requiring large quantities (private labels, special back label, screw cap).

Our history

In 1954, Alsace slowly recovered from a devastating Second World War and the German occupation. Then a couple of Hunawihr winemakers realized that they could all improve the quality of their production by working as a team. Blessed with amazing terroirs, the founding members spent their days working in the vines...

50 years later, Cave Vinicole de Hunawihr ranks among the best: “La Revue du Vin de France” classified our cellar as the 1st cooperative winery in Alsace and the 3rd in France.

Riesling Grape

Soil and sunshine

Sheltered from the influence of the ocean by the Vosges, the wine region of Alsace enjoys practically the least rainfall in France (only 400-500 mm per year) and is blessed with a semi-continental climate, sunny, hot and dry .

These optimal weather conditions, together with a nice cool autumn season, allow the grapes to ripen slowly and develop an amazing complexity of aromas.

Due to the erosion of the Vosges and the Black Forest, which formed a unique mountain range centuries ago; the geology of Alsace is a real mosaic of soils, made up of granite, limestone, gneiss, slate, sandstone...

The vines of Hunawihr have been considered one of the most noble in France since 1123 when Pope Calixte II took up the defense of the small village which was taxed twice.

Facts and figures

• Cave cooperative from 1954; today 110 members

• 200 ha of vineyards located in Hunawihr (80 %) and surroundings (Riquewihr, Zellenberg) including 12 ha for Cremant d'Alsace (Pinot), 13 ha for Grands Crus (Rosacker, Froehn, Sporen, Schoenenbourg, Osterberg)andlt; /pandgt;

• Average annual production: 15,000 Hl

• Average annual sales: more than 1.6 million bottles (165,000 cases) of which 25% sold abroad

•Soil: vineyards located on the so-called «geological fault line of Ribeauvillé», the soil is clayey limestone marl with chalky gravel from the Muschelkalk and Lettenkohle, which gives the wines an exquisite individuality

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• Storage capacity : 40,000 Hl in bulk - 1,500,000 bottles in air-conditioned cellars

• Bottling line: 6,000 bottles/hour

• Modern equipment enables our cellar to take full advantage of all the features of Hunawihr production.

• Destinations abroad: Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Canada, USA, Greece, Switzerland, Denmark, United

Kingdom, Italy, Finland, Norway, Netherlands, French West Indies.

Winemaking

Plucking is largely done by hand: 100% for Grands Crus and Lieux-dits, more than 60% for the rest of the range. The grapes are taken from the vineyards to the press house in special harvesting trucks to preserve the entire grapes.

The winery receives only one grape variety and one origin per day (Reserve, Lieux-dits, Grands Crus), depending on the terroir and microclimate. Our winemaker then makes a 2nd selection given the hygienic condition. Not destemmed or crushed, whole grapes incl rds put in the press.

Photo is: Whole grapes in Champagne being pressed

Transformation in the basement

After the grapes are pressed, the juice is stored in stainless steel tanks with temperature control. It is then stretched by flotation to separate the clear juice from the heavier impurities (sediment) before fermentation begins.

The fermentation is mainly provoked by the addition of selected cultured yeasts, their action is slowed down by gently lowering the temperature in the tank to obtain a finer wine.

Once fermentation is over, the wine is racked (pumped) to release it from the sediment. It then matures for at least 4 to 6 months on fine lees. It is regularly tasted by our winemaker to monitor its development and to decide on the frequency of stirring the lees. At the right time, the wine is filtered with tangential filtration and kept in the tank. The wine is bottled, labeled and packaged just before sale, approximately 18 to 24 months after harvest (except rosé, Muscat and Crémants). Given the soil and microclimate, Hunawihr's terroirs are among the newest in Alsace. So wines need some time to develop their aromas and we prefer aging in the tank rather than in the bottle.

Would you like to have a taste? We have different wines in our range, see the bottom of this page.

Cave vinicole Hunawhir