97 Points & Super-Chiseled: Transcendent & Exhilarating Domaine Weinbach!

WHY BUY: Vinous summed up Domaine Weinbach’s 2024 in one word: “Bravo,” and the 6 wines we bring you today from that portfolio (including a 97-pointer Grand Cru and two 96-point Grand Crus — rare numbers in the world of white wine) are as exalted as white wines get: super-chiseled, with almost piercing clarity and definition, and, as ever, absolutely and thrillingly bone-dry. The Schlossberg soils are special, and Weinbach’s status as the first vineyard in Alsace to be accorded Grand Cru surely rests on its exceptional terroir; don’t miss these two Rieslings, which show off the varietal at its absolute best, and which have the power to convert skeptics to lovers. As great as these wines are, we would be remiss if we didn’t say a word about their value; the fact that Weinbach manages to stay at such an inviting price point, after all these years and all these honors, is no less extraordinary than everything else about this icon.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: Vinous awarded 97 points to the Riesling Cuvée Ste. Catherine Schlossberg Grand Cru, singling out its complex, integrated palate: “beautifully straight-laced, absolutely ripe, stony, bright and complete.” The standard Schlossberg Grand Cru took home 96 points, also from Vinous, which praised its “smooth, fluid, rounded ripeness" and a granite stoniness that keeps the wine “super precise” even as the acid stays “superbly buffered.” Its finish, it wrote, is “all zest and stone, a triumph of this Grand Cru.” Vinous was just as enamored of the Gewurztraminer Furstentum Grand Cru, which features, it wrote, in a 96-point rave, a “lovely note of blood orange” against a “smooth, tangy base” of candied peel. “Lightness and brightness are absolute in this wine.”

OUR TASTING NOTES: It’s a special kind of pleasure for us to taste a selection of wines before the world has weighed in, and when that selection belongs to Weinbach, it’s also a special kind of honor. The base Riesling is simple in name only; it’s a wine of citrus pith and wet stone, and with sneaky complexity. Call it “entry level” if you must, but you’re doing the wine a great disservice. Bonnes Terres steps up in weight without sacrificing even an iota of tension. We loved its Alsatian minerality, pronounced but not overpowering, and enlivening every sip. Now, to the Grands Crus: the Furstentum Gewurztraminer arrives lush and aromatic, with lychee and rose petal doing a delicate pas de deus, but what keeps us coming back to it is it wiriness and suavity. The Schlossberg Riesling is where the domaine's obsession with precision comes through most clearly: this is a bone-dry, saline expression, and practically vibrating with acidity — a wine that makes your mouth water before you've taken a sip. As for the Cuvée Ste. Catherine, the collector anchor of this release: this is Schlossberg at its densest and most concentrated and most fully realized, a wine built for the long haul but drinking with such clarity and definition that you could open it tonight … or hold it for fifteen years. And either call would be the right call.

THE STORY: Four centuries ago, a handful of Capuchin monks settled at the foot of the Schlossberg hill in Alsace and planted vines, because, well — that’s what monks in possession of good hillsides did, and do. The French Revolution eventually, shall we say, relieved them of the property, and the land passed into state hands before the Faller family bought the original five hectares at the close of the 19th century. And there the family proudly remains. The estate has since grown to thirty hectares, and is still Faller-owned and -operated. Today, the ship is steered by Catherine Faller, who spent decades building Weinbach's reputation into something the rest of the wine world now watches closely. She is, by any fair account, one of the most consequential women working in French wine today, and every bottle that leaves this address bears the exactitude, the expressiveness, the depth that she insists upon.

THE VINTAGE: Winemaker Eddy Faller's notes suggest 2024 asked for real attentiveness in the vineyard, the kind of season that rewards a house already committed to biodynamic farming and low yields rather than one scrambling to compensate after the fact. The fact that Weinbach was able to produce wines of freshness, energy, and definition is itself an achievement.

WHAT TO PAIR THEM WITH: It would be difficult to turn up wines that offer greater versatility at the table. The Grand Cru Rieslings pair beautifully with shellfish, sushi, or goat cheese. The Gewürztraminer is the ultimate partner for spicy Asian cuisine, and is equally at home in the company of foie gras or a ripe, aromatic cheese.

OUR GUARANTEE: As always, we only buy and source directly from the estate, so rest assured: your wines will arrive in your hands with pristine provenance. Secure your bottles and cases today!