Zind-Humbrecht

The Free Bacchus Story

Olivier Humbrecht is one of fewer than four hundred Masters of Wine in the world. He is also the person deciding when to spray, or not spray, roughly forty hectares of Alsace hillside, which is an unusual combination of qualifications to bring to a vineyard.

He converted the estate to biodynamics in the 1990s and holds Demeter certification across every parcel, including some of the most distinctive grand cru sites in France. The Rangen de Thann Clos Saint Urbain is the extreme case: volcanic rock so steep the work is done by hand because nothing else can get there, producing Riesling of a density that reads as almost inconceivable until you taste it. The Wine Advocate has given it 99 points.

What sent him there was manure. He bought fertiliser from local farms and found it would not break down; after a year, he has said, it still smelt like a septic tank. Making his own compost properly led him to biodynamics.

What is worth understanding about Alsace is that its reputation for sweetness is largely a misunderstanding of ripeness. Humbrecht's wines are frequently dry, or nearly so, and their weight comes from concentration rather than sugar — a distinction the farming makes possible through low yields and old vines. The estate publishes analytical detail on each cuvée so that buyers are not guessing, which remains rarer than it should be. It is also one of the more rewarding places to begin with serious biodynamic wine, because the range descends in an orderly way from the grand crus to bottles costing a fraction as much and carrying identical farming. The philosophy does not stop at the expensive end of the cellar.