Hunter McKirdy | Alsace | Les Champs des Roches VdF | 2023 | 750ml

Description

Product description for Hunter McKirdy Les Champs des Roches VdF 2023

Wine Information

On the eastern flank of the hill on which Zellenberg stands is a small hillock of gravel deposits known as the Burgreben. This was the final destination of the moraine formed in the Vosges Mountains during the Mindel glaciation. These fields of stones are visually out of place in an area dominated by heavy calcareous marl soils. They consist of a shallow, 25cm deep layer of gravel over a bedrock of Oligocene limestone. The soils are free-draining, east-facing, and at an altitude of 230m. This causes them to warm quickly, making this early-ripening site best suited to Riesling. Les Champs des Roches is a single-varietal Riesling. Harvest timing was determined by pH and acidity ripeness, with no consideration given to potential alcohol content. The grapes were hand-picked, sorted, and brought to the winery in 10kg crates. They were then pressed whole in a hydraulic wooden basket press for 8 to 10 hours. Jolène Hunter and Paul McKirdy call this a Champagne pressing. The juice was then gravity-fed, without débourbage, into Burgundy barrels over 10 years old, where the wine was allowed to ferment spontaneously. The wine matured for nine months on its full lees without racking and without the addition of SO2. Only a minimal amount of sulfite was added before bottling.

Colour

Light platinum yellow

Nose

Initially, the nose reveals pencil shavings, herbs, crushed rock, and verbena. Then the Riesling’s typical character becomes clearer, revealing a slightly fruity aroma of pome fruit, a touch of white stone fruit, and lemon.

Palate

On the palate, the Riesling appears crystalline. It becomes increasingly juicy with aeration, with light fruit, a clear yet charming and sensual acidity, salt and iodine, pollen, apple, and herbal notes. Over two days, the wine becomes increasingly elegant and silky without losing its tension and the electrifying minerality. It remains lean and powerful with a very fine texture, mingled with a hint of tannin.

Copyright Vinaturel 2025

Keywords: Hunter McKirdy Les Champs des Roches VdF 2023 Alsace France

Wine Advocate

Score: 93

The Vin de France Les Champs des Roches (translated as “the fields of rocks”) grows in the village on the eastern flank of the hill upon which Zellenberg sits, with a view onto Riquewihr’s and Hunawihr’s most famous Alsace grands crus, Schoenenbourg and Rosacker. This wine is from a small mound of gravel deposits known as “burgreben” (a name that Marc Tempé made known before he gave his old Zellenberg vineyards to this South African/Scottish connection). Visually out of place in an area dominated by heavy limestone-marl soils, these “fields of rocks” are composed of a shallow (25 centimeters deep) layer of gravel over a bedrock of Oligocene limestone. “Free draining, east-facing and at 230 meters in altitude, the soils here heat up quickly, meaning that this early-ripening site is best adapted for Riesling,” explain Jolene and Paul.

Indeed, their 2023 Les Champs des Roches is 100% Riesling, and the inaugural vintage opens with a pure and precise, beautifully fragrant, crystalline and floral-scented fruit with saline and flinty nuances as well as aromatic herbal notes. Seriously dense but always delicate, the wine is round and gentle but dry on the palate, with an idea of Muscat in terms of texture and flavors, whereas the lively but delicate acidity is certainly Riesling. The wine is tight and mouth-tickling, and the finish is salivating and provided with very fine tannins from nine months aging sur lie. Irresistible. 12.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in November 2024.
Stephan Reinhardt

Producer website: https://www.instagram.com/huntermckirdy_vins/?__d=1