Domaine Hurst Riesling Grand Cru Brand 2018

Domaine Hurst dates from 1926 but the family’s vinous roots go back to the 17^th century, now run by thirteenth generation Armand Hurst and his wife Nicole. With a financial investment in 2016 from Marc Rinaldi, Colmar industrialist, serial entrepreneur and long-time benefactor of the Alsace vignoble, the estate has been transformed. Marc brought in a new team led by Samuel Tottoli, a sommelier turned winemaker who had previously spent more than a dozen years reinvigorating the famous Alsace house of Kuentz-Bas. The transformation here has been swift and dramatic with notable gains in concentration, texture and vitality, all of them shaped by the peculiar geology of their large holding in the Grand Cru of Brand’s granitic soils. A new biodynamic regime saw the entirety of the domaine certified by Demeter in 2019.Domaine Hurst dates from 1926 but the family’s vinous roots go back to the 17^th century, now run by thirteenth generation Armand Hurst and his wife Nicole their 12 hectares of vines around the town of Turkheim are farmed biodynamically, certified from 2019.

Hurst’s stunning Riesling Grand Cru comes from old vines in the warm Grand Cru of Brand, offering a piercing citrus imbued floral nose and a complex palate of ripe apples pears and hints of honey, peach and a backbone of minerals and citrus acidity, this is drinking beautifully now but will keep for years.

Brand was the first of the Alsatian Grands Crus recognized in 1983. Brand (means burnt) is often called " Terre de Feu " because of its strong sunshine and the heat that the land gives off. Abundant light and a granite and mica soil capable of capturing it as well as transmitting its heat the grapes experience optimal ripening conditions.