Agathe Bursin has been dreaming about making her own wine at the heart of the quaint Alsatian village where she grew up since childhood. Two decades of relentless work has cemented her as a talented, dynamic figure in the region. And we were lucky enough to sit down with her this week.
A family estate reformed in 2000
As is often the case in this line of work, this is a family-run estate whose vines have been cared for by several different generations. In fact, two of her great-grandparents owned vines, which they grew in a polyculture, in the same village where Agathe continues their work, Westhalten. From the 1890s, they decided to solely focus on wine production which they sold in bottles, slightly unusual for this time. However, when one of her great-grandfathers passes away, the family decided to sell the grapes to a wine merchant. But what followed was the creation of a cooperative cellar which Agathe Bursin’s grandparents joined. The winemaking bug did not strike Agathe’s mother who rented the vines she inherited to her brother. It’s with these same vines that Agathe started her estate.
“It has been my dream since I was a little girl to become a winemaker,” she tells us. “Even when I was three years old, my cousin and I made wine with our grandparents who reserved a part of the production for their own consumption. We ‘helped’ press the grapes and taste the juice. I was involved with wine tastings from a tender age and all my friends at school wanted to be winemakers like their parents. I was just the same.” However, her mother wanted her to choose a path that didn’t necessarily involve wine. So Agathe chose to focus on science in her final school years and with the help of her grandmother, managed to convince her mother to let her apply to study viticulture and oenology. Agathe went on to do a further two qualifications within the industry, including one focusing more on the legal side of viniculture.
On finishing her studies in 2000, Agathe took over her mother’s three hectares of vines in the village of Westhalten and her business adventure started.
A small, organic estate with vines in the Zinnkoepflé Grand Cru
The three-hectare estate slowly grew to cover the seven that is does today. The vines grow on slopes, which are sometimes very steep, and located at a little altitude. The Zinnkoepflé Grand Cru sits at around 420 metres. The name of the plot means “Mount of the Sun” and benefits from an interesting, complex climate. The grand cru is known for its aforementioned climate and altitude which favours the cultivation of Gewurztraminer and botrytised wines. Sun and wind share out the work, helping to create grapes in which freshness and generosity are balanced.
The estate has numerous old vines with Agathe Bursin sharing that “each plant has its own character with some being cheekier than others and you can count on others to always be the first to contract something.” On this relatively small-sized property, the winemaker tends to six Alsatian grape varieties which are Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Muscat, Riesling and Sylvaner.
For most of the plots, the vines have been cared for according to organic principles since the very beginning, but the rest of the conversion took place from 2017 onwards, with certification coming in 2020.
The soils are worked sometimes by horses and sometimes by hand. Due to the steep inclines of some plots, the horses can’t go down the slopes safely and so these areas are dug by hand. Tilling using a tractor is kept to a minimum so not to compact the soil too much, leaving a lot of the work to be done by hand. An example of this would be leaf removal, which “allows us to choose which leaves remain on the vine so that the grapes stay in the shade as well as to preserve the fresh fruit flavours in the Gewurztraminers and not to create jammy fruit ones, for example. But we have to take several tours of the vineyard because the leaves grow back quickly. It takes five people to cover a hectare and, of course, it takes a lot more time than doing it with a machine, but the results are worth it.”
Plot by plot vinification with very little intervention
Each of the property’s 40 plots are vinified separately with the goal of creating wines that reflect their terroir, even if a few are later blended. Overall, there is very little intervention during the vinification process. “If a wine wants to ferment over three weeks or three months, it makes no difference to me,” shares Agathe. She likes to add natural carbon dioxide to the wines when bottling them to protect them as they move towards our cellars and also to add less sulphites. This is why the wines can contain some bubbles when opening them.
When it comes to maturation, only the Pinot Noirs are aged in oak but not new wood. Agathe Bursin buys barrels that have already matured several wines from a winemaking friend in Burgundy. The white wines remain in stainless steel to limit their contact with air.
Agathe Bursin’s wines
Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Kinnoepflé
This Gewurztraminer comes from a tiny parcel located at 350 metres of altitude on a limestone soil which creates balance between the freshness and lasting flavours. It’s an elegant, ample wine that leaves you wanting more.
Riesling Grand Cru Zinnkoepflé
This is a generous Riesling which is full of flavours with fruity, floral and even spiced notes rising from the glass. It fills the palate with delicious flavours and is balanced by a wonderful tautness.
Riesling Bollenberg
The vines that go on to produce this Riesling are between 20 and 70 years old and are planted on a north-east facing, limestone plot. The wine boasts candied citrus fruits as well as white fruits and flowers and a taut, refined, saline palate.
Riesling Dirstelberg
The 60-year-old Riesling vines which crate this wine grow on a one-hectare, south-east facing plot. Aromatic and flavourful, white and tropical fruit notes rise from the glass. The palate reveals a little residual sugar which is balanced by a great freshness.
Riesling Grand Cru Zinnkoepflé Vendanges Tardives
This wine offers Mirabelle plum and white floral notes, while the ample, pleasant palate possesses ripe lemon and melon flavours.
We couldn’t let Agathe Bursin go without asking her about her favourite food and wine pairings. And she blew our mind with her answer: Gewurtraminer and pizza! A slightly sweet Gewurtraminer goes well with the acidity of the tomato. She also likes to enjoy a dry Muscat with oysters or other dishes of an iodine nature like fish and Riesling and goat’s cheese (the drier the Riesling, the fresher the cheese needs to be).
