Rietsch Coquette

About Rietsch Coquette

Rietsch Coquette is a delicious and stunning blend made from organic Gewurztraminer and Riesling. Bright, spicy, floral, and enchanting.

About Domaine Rietsch

The Rietsch family has been established in the Mittelbergheim region of Alsace since the 17th century. Since that time the family has been working in vineyard-related trades, from cooperage to viticulture. In the early 1970s, Pierre and Doris Rietsch created the estate that bears their name by transforming their operation, which was then focused on mixed farming, into a solely wine-growing business. The estate is now managed by Jean-Pierre Rietsch and his wife Sophie, assisted by Pierre-Etienne Grieshaber. The estate works in partnership with La Main Verte, an adapted company whose teams participate in manual work in the vines, from pruning to training. Although retired from the operation, Pierre Rietsch remains present throughout the year and continues to contribute to the various tasks.

About the Reitsch Winemaking Philosophy

In 2008, Domaine Reitsch opted for viticulture that respects the environment by converting their estate to organic farming. Grass cover, superficial tillage, and sowing of green manure are the centerpieces of our cultivation. They allow native flora and fauna to create a balanced environment and promote the expression of the terroir. The wines are made from grapes grown without chemicals. During the harvest, which is entirely manual, the grapes are sorted on the plot and then pressed whole to avoid the effects of crushing. All the work on grapes and juices is carried out gently: the juices are extracted from the bunches in a pneumatic press at low pressure, over a fairly long period, from 5 to 12 hours, so that the press already acts as a filter, which will limit the extraction of lees. This set of precautions is aimed at not stripping the juices of their substance. The musts are then aged in slow and natural fermentation, over a period of 5 to 24 months depending on the case, from their native yeasts which feed on the material preserved in the juices. No addition of sugar, no acidity correction, no fining: our interventions during aging are limited to the strict minimum, so as not to disturb the character of the wine and to allow it to best express its characteristics, grape variety, and terroir. At the end of the fermentation process, some wines are stabilized by filtration and the addition, if necessary, of very low doses of sulfur in order to treat possible bacterial problems.

Over the past ten years, the winery’s approach has become increasingly involved in the production of natural wines. Behind this name, which is not yet regulated by any legislation, their practice is simple: it presupposes an upstream approach that is as respectful as possible of the vine and the soil, which are worked without pesticides, without weedkillers, fertilizers, insecticides, and synthetic antifungals and wine aging without the contribution of any input. This approach requires first of all to trust the raw material. It requires, at all stages of wine aging, great attention to the winemaking process. The resistance to air is tested before bottling to ensure that the wine can resist over time. Less tense than sulfite wines, these natural wines are fluid, balanced, relaxed. Their perception in the mouth is particularly sensual, fleshy. Some tasters speak of their particular “drinkability”: they are gourmet wines, of great purity of taste on the palate.