The wine is very concentrated with good structure, and the middle palate displaying savory, tobacco leaves and nutty flavours - a serious pinot noir for the true pinot noir fan - very limited allocation received.

This 2017 vintage year has been a real emotional roller-coaster ride.
The year started well enough with plenty of winter rain and a rapid first budding leading us into an ideal start
to the spring season.
And then on the night of 19/20 April the Alsace region suffered its worst frost in 30 years. The damage was
extensive but highly variable, anything from 0 to 80% destruction depending on the local conditions. Riquewihr
was really hit very hard. All growth stopped for a number of days and the vines finally began to flower on 31
May. During the flowering season the conditions were perfect with regular rains and the vines grew magnificently
throughout the summer. And almost no disease outbreaks whatsoever. We were wary of being optimist but we
had a good feeling.
The harvest opened on 31 August! We started on 12 September under radiant sunshine. Then... Hailstorms on
17 September! That was not part of the plan, very unusual for the season and the region! Yes, 2017 was really
turning out to be a hell of a roller-coaster ride. In the end there was little real damage apart from a Pflostig field
which didn't come in until the next day. Phew.
At the end of the harvest the weather was perfect with the added bonus of some wonderful late harvests,
Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris. It was a tough one but the 2017 vintage will produce really great wines.

This wine has a wonderfully intense and lively colour with a nice crystalline metallic sheen over a young, fresh and alert pale green with hints of pale yellow. It has a magnificent pure and sophisticated nose which generously releases a sense of freshness, openness and perfumed, expressive, fruity and floral spontaneity with delicate hints of Muscat, white peach, lemon balm, rose, hawthorn, jasmine, freesia, lime tree and cherry blossom, lychee and pear. This is a fresh and refreshing dry wine, with a wonderful heady and rounded and rounded generosity that is combined with a remarkable sapidity, it has a full and delicious flavour filled with charm and sophistication.

Pleasant young, fresh and crystalline colour, dominated by its pure and transparent light green shimmer with scattered silver highlights. It gives off a hint of springtime with pistachio and verbena leaves. Very pleasant, smooth and tender legs. It has a very precise, refreshing, open and expressive nose, enriched with a sound and lively aroma, there is an agreeable and harmonious approach with the fruity spontaneity of green apples, white peaches, fresh moss and spring flowers, such as primrose and daffodil. On the palate it is a well-balanced and pleasant dry wine which is also fresh, refreshing, and pleasantly well-rounded with a pleasantly smooth and full structure which begs to be enjoyed.

A very fresh yellow, pale green with dominant hints of green with lighter hints of the pale yellow of lime trees in spring, some silver, crystalline highlights, a pleasant energetic sheen, full and lively legs. The aroma is still a bit restrained and serious but with the fresh, clear, precise and well stated fruitiness of lime, fresh kiwi, lemongrass, gooseberry, fresh moss and a lightly mineral flinty nuance. On the palate this is a dry, refreshing and lively wine with a pleasant sense of tension and vivacity which enlivens the palate, it's rounded and full flavour ample quenches the thirst.

Very young pale green colour with complementary straw yellow hints, star-bright and crystal-clear, clinging softly to the glass. The bouquet is immediately seductive, open and harmonious, so uncommonly expressive that it awakens the senses and the palate. It is agreeably fruit-driven: very ripe yellow fruit, apricot, Golden Delicious apple, greengage, acacia honey, fresh brioche and liquorice, with that light, slightly smoky, flinty touch that authenticates an excellent, ripe Pinot Gris, without any botrytis. The same harmony and balance can be found on the palate, which is soft and tender, with excellent structure, smooth and charming, giving a very tasty, dry finish that is refined and generous.

A very fresh yellow, pale green with dominant hints of green with lighter hints of the pale yellow of lime trees in spring, some silver, crystalline highlights, a pleasant energetic sheen, full and lively legs. The aroma is still a bit restrained and serious but with the fresh, clear, precise and well stated fruitiness of lime, fresh kiwi, lemongrass, gooseberry, fresh moss and a lightly mineral flinty nuance. On the palate this is a dry, refreshing and lively wine with a pleasant sense of tension and vivacity which enlivens the palate, it's rounded and full flavour amply quenches the thirst.

On the palate it is clearly a dry Riesling of the highest quality with a full, broad, juicy and strong structure, complimented with a wonderful astringency which adds length and character to the flavour. There is also a remarkably harmonious after-taste.

Schoelhammer 2009 embodies the expertise acquired by the Hugel Family since 1639. We have always sought out the purest and most natural expression of each noble Alsace grape variety that we grow in our historic vineyard estates around Riquewihr.