Pioneering winemaking in the old world
Rene Dopff is a wine making trailblazer in the truest sense of the word. After aquiring controll of the estate he broke away from the centuries old wine making techniques and looked to the terroir rather than to the grape variety. He decided to divide the vineyard at the Château de Riquewihr into four estates, which he rechristened with typically French names: Les Murailles, Les Sorcières, Les Maquisards and Les Amandiers.He also opted for clearer labelling, abandoning gothic lettering in favour of a more accessible, customer script. This is something that many current winemakers struggle with even today. The subsequent wines, made solely from the four noble grape varieties, expressed the very soul of the terroir and from that day on, each estate was dedicated to a particular variety.