Producer: Les Spontanés de GILG

Les Spontanés de GILG

Domaine Armand Gilg is deeply rooted in Alsace's history. Located on the Wine Route, it is a veritable anthology of local geology and owns plots in two renowned Grand Crus. The wines are precise, chiseled, generous, and beautifully mature.

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Sylvaner Natural White 2020
Les Spontanés de GILG

Sylvaner Natural White 2020

€28,00

Domaine Armand Gilg

Mittelbergheim (Bas-Rhin, Alsace)
 
A family of independent winemakers in a village where a chronicle of the vineyard and wine has been written since 1456.
 

Where?

The Gilg estate is located in the heart of Mittelbergheim, in central Alsace, between Colmar and Strasbourg. This small town, a famous stop on the Alsace Wine Route, is one of the one hundred and fifty-six most beautiful villages in France, a distinction that is widely deserved when discovering its beautiful streets bordered by large pink granite houses with windows adorned with red geraniums. Beyond the postcard image, the village, like many other Alsatian wine-growing sites, nestles in a mosaic of gently rolling vineyards at the foot of the sub-Vosges hills. It is known — particularly in the territory of the Grand Cru Zotzenberg — for the blossoming of a rare plant with yellow flowers, the wild tulip. Another interesting fact: wine has been made in Mittelbergheim since Roman times. The existence of vines there has been documented since 880 AD, and, uniquely in Alsace, a regular chronicle of wine and vineyards has been kept there since 1456. There is no doubt that this is truly a wine region.
The Gilg family, originally from Austria, settled in Mittelbergheim in 1601. Their name comes from the word lilie, meaning “lily flower.” They now represent the sixteenth generation of their family to live from viticulture. The first twelve or thirteen generations combined this activity with polyculture and, probably, coopering. However, the family's wine history truly began in 1937 when Armand and Eugénie Gilg moved across from the family home to develop their farm. In 1947, the estate cultivated 1.2 hectares of vines and had a one hundred square meter cellar in a house dating from 1572. It was in 1963 that they acquired the neighboring house, no less venerable as it dates from 1585, and the adjoining barns, allowing them to create a bottle cellar and a tasting room. In 1971, their three children, Armand, Christiane, and Jean-Pierre, took over. The estate then covered ten hectares of vines; new bottle cellars and a pressing building were constructed. Currently, the estate still bears the name of its founder, Armand Gilg Senior, and its operators are Thierry, Armand Gilg Junior's son, and Jean-Christophe Lehner, Christiane Lehner-Gilg's son. The family is dedicated to its activity as independent winemakers, who cultivate their vines, harvest their grapes, vinify, and market their wines.
 

Terroir, parcels and grape varieties

Domaine Armand Gilg currently covers twenty-nine hectares at an altitude between 160 and 310 meters. In the good tradition of a highly fragmented Alsatian vineyard, it comprises about a hundred parcel clusters whose surface area varies between 6 and 140 ares. The vines are dispersed within a four-kilometer radius around the estate, not only in Mittelbergheim but also in neighboring communes: Andlau, Eichhoffen, Barr, and Gertwiller. The soils also reflect the Alsatian vineyard, with highly diverse geological configurations. Within a few square kilometers, one can find limestone, clay-limestone, marl-limestone, silt, or sandstone, which allows the Gilg estate to successfully cultivate all Alsatian grape varieties. Thanks to the protection of the Vosges massif, the climate is dry and sunny, hot in summer and cold in winter, favoring the slow maturation of the grapes.
The Gilg estate notably includes five hectares located in Grand Cru Zotzenberg (Mittelbergheim), one of Alsace's most famous localities: divided between clay-silt, limestone, and ferruginous sandy-silt soils, it is suitable for all Alsatian grape varieties, and the Gilg family cultivates Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer, and Sylvaner there. The latter grape variety is only allowed among the Grands Crus in the Zotzenberg locality. One hectare is also located in Grand Cru Moenchberg, in Andlau and Eichhoffen. The vines, exclusively Riesling, rest on finely textured clay-sandy-silt soils there.
Production is divided among the seven traditional Alsatian grape varieties (Pinot Noir, Sylvaner, Auxerrois or Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Muscat, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer), Klevener de Heiligenstein (Savagnin Rose) and Chardonnay, the latter being exclusively used for Crémant d'Alsace.
 

Cultivation methods

Until the 2021 harvest, the estate was HVE certified (High Environmental Value) and in the process of converting to organic. It is now certified organic. The terroir is cultivated with the utmost respect for the environment, with low yields.
 

Vinification

The estate has several cellars, all connected underground over more than 1,200 square meters. Two of these cellars date from the end of the 16th century; the others were excavated and built between 1964 and 1993. This impressive installation houses the Gilg estate's barrels and bottles. Vinifications are traditional. The harvest is mostly destemmed (except for Crémant and Sylvaner), Pinot Noir is manually devatted using buckets after maceration. Two pneumatic presses ensure the pressing. Debourbage is followed by filtering of the lees, and all fermentations take place at controlled temperatures in various types of vats: oak foudres, glass-lined, enamel-lined, or stainless steel tanks. No additives or sulfites for the natural cuvées.
 

The wines

The demanding viticulture of the Gilg family allows them to produce two natural cuvées in a series called “Les Spontanés.” This series currently includes a Pinot Noir and a Sylvaner.

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