BOTTLER – FAMILY’S 438 YEARS OF WINEMAKING

Wc30Apr12

David Ellis

DOING it right, family-owned Dopff au Moulin has been making wines since 1574.

WHEN the family’s been making wine since 1574 and today 13th generation members are at the helm, you know you must be doing something right, and certainly that’s the case with Dopff au Moulin in France’s Alsace region.

Headed by Pierre-Etienne Dopff and with Pascal Batot leading the winemaking team, the wines of this oldest family-owned and run winery in Alsace are now exported worldwide, including to Australia where for the past four decades they’ve been imported exclusively by the Dan Murphy liquor store chain.

The 2010 vintage in Alsace was an exceptional one, and one resultant wine in particular, the 2010 Dopff au Moulin Pinot Blanc is nicely fresh, light and dry with a mild acidity and with nice melon and pear flavours. Fruit was hand-selected off some 70 hectares of vineyards stretching across Alsace, and remarkably this interesting and excellent drop sells here for just $12.99.

At this price grab a couple of bottles and enjoy with what other than Quiche Lorraine – considered a classic French dish today, but actually originating some centuries ago in Germany’s old kingdom of Lothringen, that was later re-named Lorraine when it came under French control.

PAYING tribute to the Barossa Valley’s German heritage.

ONE FOR LUNCH: Kym Teusner and Corey Ryan, the winemaking power behind Zeppelin in the Barossa Valley, choose to use fruit from vines 60 to 80 years old, to pay homage they say to the Valley’s rich German heritage.

Kym’s 2009 Zeppelin Barossa Valley Shiraz came off a single vineyard he owns in the Angaston Hills, the fruit being hand-harvested, crushed in small open fermenters, fermentation then finished in-tank and the wine matured in older oak for 18 months.

The result is a great drop with forward blackberry and plum flavours and nice tannins, and ideal with most grilled meats or a meat-lovers pizza; pay $18.

(NEED A FOOD/DRINK IDEA? Check out  http://www.vintnews.com )