Marcel Deiss

Deiss Family

From fathers to sons

The Deiss family, a family of winegrowers, settled in Bergheim in 1744.Marcel DeissHe enlisted in the military at 18, and it was only after the Second World War that he returned to his native Alsace. Reconnecting with his first loves and family passions, he then created theDomaine Marcel DeissIn 1947, he and his son André developed their small wine business. Together, they established a vast vineyard, located on the aptly named "Wine Route" and extending into neighboring villages. Currently, his grandson, Jean-Michel, a graduate in oenology, manages this estate, which today produces internationally renowned wines.

Jean-Michel Deiss

A low-intervention approach

The estate cultivates 27 hectares of vines, spread across 9 communes and divided into 220 very diverse plots, within the appellation.Alsaceand Alsace Grand Cru. Today managed by the talentedJean-Michel DeissAnd with his son Mathieu, the estate was long cultivated in the tradition established by Marcel, following numerous established practices. Little by little, Jean-Michel decided to evolve his style, distinguishing himself through his replanting technique and his minimal-intervention approach. He cultivates all of the estate's vines inbiodynamic agricultureCertified since 1997. He cultivates them using traditional Alsatian viticultural techniques, including plowing, hoeing, composting, and cover cropping. He also uses no herbicides or chemical fertilizers.

Vines planted together

A harmony of grape varieties

Returning to the practices of his ancestors, Jean-Michel decided to plant several grape varieties in certain plots, thus allowing the terroir to express itself. The wines ofDomaine Marcel DeissThey are thus complex and expressive, possessing an incredible balance. Three scales divide them:

• - the range of Fruit wines, composed of wines made from a single grape variety;
• - the wines of Temps, which include late harvests and selections of noble grains and whose wines are not produced every year;
• - THETerroir wines, resulting from replanting, which bear the name of the lieu-dit rather than that of the grape varieties. The three grand crus of the estate, the Alternberg de Bergheim, the Mambourg and the Schonenbourg, are obviously from this range.

Jean-Michel, however, makes no secret of his dream of completely abandoning varietal wines. According to him, "nobility lies in producing something that cannot be produced anywhere else, not Rieslings that are 80% clones, identical from Thann to Wissembourg."