History of the Domaine

The Domaine was founded over 200 years ago. Mrs Hartmann and her husband purchased the property, but unfortunately Mr. Hartmann passed away shortly after the acquisition of the Domaine.

Mrs. Hartmann fought to keep the Domaine functioning, changing the name of the Domaine to her name, and succeeded in turning it into something unique and elite in Luxembourg by producing 100% Riesling. After Mrs. Hartmann passed away, her nephew took over the winery, but sold it 9 years later, namely in 1996, to pursue his dreams in Southern France. We purchased the Domaine, and immediately set about modernising the winery. Due to the fact that Riesling had lost a bit of its sparkle and attraction, we started to plant other varietals. Pinot Noir was planted, as well as the first plantings of Chardonnay in Luxembourg was undertaken by the Domaine.

Our Philosophy for the Domaine was “Quality above all”, and wines are only produced if the grape quality is to our utmost satisfaction. To this day, not all wines from the various Vineyard Sites are produced every year.

We are also very proud of the fact that we are the first and only Luxembourg producer to receive a rating by Robert Parker(87 - 93) and the only Luxembourg estate featured in the German Version of Gault & Millau wine guide.

Region

The Domaine is situated in the Southernmost (upper) Region of the Mosel River, the soils here being mainly Limestone and not the Slate enjoyed by the middle and lower Mosel in Germany. The enables us to grow very elegant Rieslings, as well as certain Burgundian Varietals, namely Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. These varietals are very important to us for the production of our various Crémants.

Viticulture

Compared to previous generations, we introduced new varietals, namely Chardonnay (first plantings of Chardonnay in Luxembourg undertaken by Alice Hartmann) and Pinot Noir. Another first in Luxembourg was the introduction of Burgundy style Oak Barrels, and the production of top quality Crémants which can hold their own against Champagne. The Domaine on a whole was upgraded and modernised, and we now have a state of the art Cellar, Machine Park and a super top team both in the Cellar and Vineyards.

Our philosophy in the vineyards from the onset was to reduce yields, thereby vastly improving the quality of the grapes (also a first in Luxembourg), late harvested, selective hand picked grapes. Most of our Riesling grows on very steep sites or old Terraced Vineyard sites ensuring optimal exposure to the sun, super drainage, and ripe fruit. We see this as a huge advantage and improvement over fruit grown on flat vineyards.

Winemaking

Our Rieslings are vinified in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks, whereas the Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and a portion of the base wines for our Crémant are vinified and matured in Burgundy style oak barrels. The wines all undergo Malolactic fermentation and remain in oak until needed, or are ready for bottling.

Wines

The average age of our Riesling vineyards are about 50 years old, with the oldest vineyard being 90 years old. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir average 20 years old.

Koeppchen and Fels both have Limestone soils, with very high exposition to the Sun. Koeppchen is fairly unprotected from top to bottom of the slope, gradually turning from a Southeasterly to a Southwesterly orientation to the Sun.
Fels is protected by a cliff at the top and a forest on the one side, with a Southeast orientation.
Palmberg grows on soils with a lot more rock content, with a Southeast orientation, and protected by a huge cliff towards the North.

90 % of our wines are sold on a subscription basis ("Allocation"), resulting in them being sold out quickly, as well as very long waiting lists for most of our Rieslings, which i think is a unique situation in Luxembourg.