DOMAINE

Domaine Durrmann

WINEMAKERS

Andre, Anna & Yann Durrmann

VINEYARD

9 ha, organic (certified)

BOTTLES PRODUCED

25,000 to 40,000

COUNTRY, REGION, SUBREGION

France, Alsace, Andlau

The Durrmann family are making wine from their old family house in the middle of Andlau, a beautiful village nestled on the first slopes of the Vosges mountains south-west of Strasbourg.

With a surface of only 1,5 hectare at the beginning in 1979, the domaine gradually reached a total surface of seven hectares after André decided to move back to farming and pieced it together from abandoned vineyard sites that were hard to work and no longer commercially viable, coming from his grandfather who made shoes to supplement the farm income. This lack of an established and family-based wine making tradition initially presented a weakness because the whole business had to be built, but it is also a strength because the company wasn't limited to traditional customs, and therefore has always been oriented toward innovation.

The vineyards are now scattered on about 30 spots around the village. They added parcels progressively when opportunities showed up and looked also for different soil qualities so that the cuvées express several terroirs.

The Durrmans think that the quality of the wine is created by the work in the vineyard, that’s why their objective is its preservation. The wines are being disturbed as little as possible. They do not add any oenological product to change the natural taste of the wines. The production is partly vinified in inox tank and partly in old wooden casks.

Son Yann has worked in the domaine since he was a child and officially took over the running of the business a year ago. André was among the first wave of organic winemakers in Alsace converting in 1998, Yann has then taken this a step further applying a more natural approach in the cellar. Selected cuvées are produced without sulfur addition since 2007.

The Durrmanns are true eco warriors only having electric cars and using solar energy for hot water and heating.