Key findings from this year’s first regional report
In anticipation of this year’s en primeur releases, Wine Lister has published Part 1 of its annual in-depth Bordeaux Study. In collaboration with Wine-Searcher, our market overview examines the region’s price performance and comparative popularity progression, and examines the wines that have seen the greatest increase in Wine Lister Quality, Brand, and Economic scores over the last year. Drawing upon valuable insight from 48 leading trade survey respondents, the study also identifies which properties have benefited from a rise in trade confidence over the past year, and explores the key benefits of the en primeur system.
Please see our key findings below, or download the study digest in English: Bordeaux Study Digest Part 1 – 2023 ENG or in French: Bordeaux Study Digest – 2023 FR.
Owner and winemaker, in tandem with his sister Marie, of their family estate in Alsace: “We run on adrenaline”.
For the tenth interview in Le Figaro Vin’s series we pay our third visit to Alsace to meet Jean-Paul Zusslin, #41. He and his sister Marie work hand-in-hand with nature to create their great Alsace wines at Domaine Valentin Zusslin, founded in the late seventeenth century, at Orschwir, between Colmar and Mulhouse. The two siblings, 13th generation of a family of winemakers, work 13.5 hectares of vines, made up of nine grape varieties (Auxerrois, Chardonnay, Chasselas, Gewurztraminer, Muscat, Pinots Noir and Gris, Riesling, and Sylvaner). The estate’s three select terroirs, on the slopes of Bollenberg, Clos Liebenberg, and Grand Cru Pfingstberg, have been cultivated biodynamically since 1997, and produce exquisite, exciting, and elegant Alsace wines.
Le Figaro Vin: How does it feel to be crowned a winemaking champion?
Jean-Paul Zusslin: I am very happy with what we have been able to achieve since my sister and I joined forces on the family estate in 2000. The estate’s reputation has grown, and we make wholesome wines which are true to us and our environment.
Have you been training for long?
Since forever, I think. Vines, wines, wine-lovers, and restaurants have all been part of my daily life from a very young age, and I never tire of them!
Who is your mentor?
My partner, my children, my sister, my mother, all my kindred winemakers. Nature, too, is a good guide when you pay it proper attention.
Is wine a team sport?
You need plenty of team-mates and have to be in good shape to make a good wine. It is important to me that everyone should work well together, start the day with a smile, be generous-spirited, and want to work hard and conscientiously. That said, I am not hugely competitive! I am a big fan of live shows and I see us more as a theatre company with me as the director. The spectators are the tasters, the actors are the vines and our team, while the playwright who guides us is nature. We try to interpret nature as faithfully as possible.
What is the key to making a good wine? The terroir or the winemaker?
To make a good wine you have to be a good winemaker, but to make a great one you have to understand its terroir, its environment. That comes from experience, accumulated through successive vintages, from observation, from challenging yourself, and from humility.
To what do you owe your success?
To my family, to my partnership with my sister, to doing what I love, and to my perseverance. When I joined the family estate in 2000 my parents and grandparents gave me the freedom to experiment and do what I wanted, especially in the cellar. They gave me the same freedom in the vineyard, where I have experimented with herbal treatments, biodynamic sprays, the introduction of nesting-boxes…
Is your family proud of you?
Yes, I think they are, I certainly hope so! I am equally appreciative of everyone’s contribution.
Who is your biggest supporter?
My mother, but without a trace of objectivity!
Your favourite colour?
White in the morning, bubbles at midday, deep yellow for afternoon tea, and red in the evening.
The king of grape varieties?
It’s hard to say, to choose is to go without! I love all the wines that I make. It’s like asking me which is my favourite child. I love both of them unconditionally. That said, I am very partial to Riesling, for its multiple dimensions, its freshness, and its versatility in matching with food.
Your favourite wine?
I am very fond of Clos Liebenberg, it’s a unique spot, a haven of biodiversity where I love to spend time, and it produces magnificent still and sparkling wines.
Your favourite vintage?
I would go for 2015, the last vintage with my father. Each year brings a new experience, a new encounter. For every vintage we spring into action, give it everything we’ve got, and the fruits of our labour are there in the bottle. Every wine has a story to tell and reminds us of some climatic or some personal event.
If your wine was a person, who would it be?
I hope it is like me, on a good day! But it is also like our landscape through the passing seasons.
What are the best circumstances in which to taste your wine?
Wine is a social bond, a product that we share, therefore it has to be in good company, over a meal or in the living room.
Have you ever thought about chemically enhancing yourself, or your wine?
Yes, all the time. I try to stimulate both vine and wine with willpower and with attentive, loving care. I think it is important that both vine and wine know what we expect from them, what our intentions are. We have to give heart and soul for them, always be there for them, and stay tuned in. My vinifications are very minimalist and natural but require careful attention. As for my personal stimulants of choice, they are wine, in moderation I like to think, positive energy, and strong coffee…
For what price would you be prepared to sell your estate?
I have never considered that question. For 13 generations now my family has been making wine and looking after a bit of land. I would be very happy if I could pass that on to my children or to my sister’s children. It will be their choice, with no pressure from me. In any case, that’s for the future. I am not about to go anywhere.
Who is your strongest competition in Alsace?
No one. Instead, I see my winemaking colleagues as a source of inspiration. Everyone has their own style. When I’m at home I almost exclusively taste wines that are not my own. I try to understand what the winemaker sought to express and to discover what makes them tick. Faced with climate change we are going to have to form a collective front against numerous challenges, hence all the more reason to get on well.
Which competitions do you dread the most?
The harvest. We run on adrenaline. There are lots of team-mates to manage, you have to bring home the wines, and the days are long. By comparison the Mont Blanc ultra marathon is a walk in the park!
What is your greatest trophy?
When you start the day among the vines and you see a hare, a pheasant, a tit has come to say hello. Or perhaps when my children tell me “That’s really good!”. And when our customers tell me that my wine does them good.
What has been your most innovative strategy in the vineyard and in the cellar?
From the moment I came to the estate in 2000 I have been passionate about the natural cultivation of vines, observing and classifying the plants and small animals and insects that live in the vineyard. The estate had already been converted to biodynamic viticulture in 1997, on the initiative of my father, Jean-Marie Zusslin. I found that fascinating and delved deeply into alternative methods, especially the use of herbs. I acquired a lot of knowledge in this field about plants that produce essential oils. I have tried out different methods of extraction (infusion, decoction, and maceration) and potentisation. Currently I macerate the plants in alcohol to extract more of their essential elements. It’s an ongoing experiment, but the results so far are encouraging. The idea is also to become self-sufficient in caring for our vines, to strengthen them without stressing them.
In the cellar, for a number of years now, I have passed some fermenting wines over marcs from our great reds. That produces greater flavour, fewer tannins, and an unbelievable drinkability. We have called this wine Ophrys, after the orchids which grow on the sheltered part of Bollenberg hill.
Who would be your ideal successor on the podium?
I hope it will be my children, or my sister’s children. But only if they choose this freely and because they are passionate about it. I think that they respect what we are doing. We try pass on to them what excites us. But it’s not an issue for the time being. I very much want to try and make another 40 vintages!
Chef de caves of one of Champagne’s most distinguished independent houses: “The best things in life stay the same”.
For the ninth in Le Figaro Vin’s series we take our second trip to Champagne to meet Denis Bunner, #42. His interview reveals a distinctive perspective on Champagne, one which combines respect for traditional values with his vision for the future.
A son of Alsace, oenologist Denis Bunner joined the Champagne house of Bollinger as deputy chef de caves in 2013. Ten years later he has replaced Gilles Descôtes as head winemaker, taking over the reins in a seamless transition. With a remarkable collection of over 700,000 reserve magnums, Bollinger enjoys its status as one of Champagne’s most iconic houses. It remains one of the pioneers of Coteaux Champenois with its renowned La Côte aux Enfants, while with every passing vintage it maintains the purity of an utterly inimitable style.
Le Figaro Vin: How does it feel to be crowned a winemaking champion?
Denis Bunner: It is a little disconcerting to be given that title because, as far as I am concerned, what matters most is team spirit. Although people tend to give all the credit to the chef de cave, the reality is that many separate elements combine to make a great champagne. My job is to bring out the power of the collective, to bring everyone together. I am also a musician and I love being the conductor. One should never forget that making champagne requires a great deal of time. Once you have finished with the composition there is a period when you have to let it rest, and then comes the disgorgement, another critical stage. It is important to recognise that we rely on expertise at every stage of vinification. Given that we carry out so much of the process by hand, the human contribution is crucial.
Have you been training for long?
From the cradle! My parents are winemakers in Alsace, and I have always been close to nature with an affinity for all living beings. I have been in Champagne for 20 years now, and I have been tasting two or three times a day since I was 20. I was fortunate to be a member of the Laboratory of Tasting and Sensory Analysis, and it is tasting that has mapped out my journey.
Who is your mentor?
It’s more a case of people who have inspired me. I have met a whole host of leading figures in Champagne who have enabled me to get where I am today. Among them was Gilles Descôtes, who has now left us (he died in January 2023, ed.). He is the person who really shaped me and showed me the way.
Is wine a team sport?
Yes, absolutely. With 4,000 barrels in our cellar we stick to very traditional working methods, which are highly dependent on human resources, and that’s what makes Bollinger a unique champagne.
What is the key to making a good wine? The terroir or the winemaker?
Both of them. To begin with we devote an enormous amount of care and attention to every stage, from the vineyard right through to the phases of fermentation. After the fermentations we are engaged in an exhaustive quest for perfection, with our decision to vinify in small containers. It has to be a co-operative effort between man and nature, and close observation is the key to everything.
To what do you owe your success?
My parents, who have passed on their predilection for a job well done. They are rigorous in their attention to detail, aesthetics, and craftsmanship. That’s the commitment you have to make, without knowing if and when you will reap the rewards. The best feeling is when a wine reaches the market, and you realise that all your hard work has paid off. Over and above the desire to achieve success, there is the prize for perseverance. All the more so in Champagne, which takes a long view of time in a world that moves much too fast.
Is your family proud of you?
My parents are too modest to say so. They are very pleased that I have chosen to stay in the sector, but they are souls of discretion and I think they prefer not to mention it.
Your favourite colour?
Blue in everyday life, the colour of the ocean and serenity. It’s a colour which grounds us and is important to me. As far as wine is concerned then it has to be white, because of my roots and my culture.
The king of grape varieties?
My favourite is Pinot Noir because it’s the predominant grape variety at Bollinger. I love its style and its personality. It is temperamental, and it’s a characteristic of ours to vinify it for whites in the same way as for reds. We still have a Côte aux Enfants 1934 in the cellar, a wine that has never been marketed, but which remains delicious. We are proud to have played an integral part in the culture of still wines in Champagne, and to have been followed by many other houses. Nowadays these wines have become more full-bodied, mature further, and make very fine reds. Which is paradoxical, since while we try to slow down climate change, we also get to benefit from some of its effects. Since 1999 we have also profited greatly from our technical collaboration with Domaine Chanson, and we maintain some very strong relationships with Burgundy.
Your favourite wine?
It’s a Pinot Noir, on a foundation of 2015, which is in our house’s DNA. It’s a wine from the heart which I made with Gilles before he left us: the PNVZ 2016.
Your favourite vintage?
1928, which is freighted with emotion, the greatest wine in our Wine Libraries, and, to my mind, the greatest Champagne vintage of all. It is packed with freshness and complexity. In 1938 Madame Bollinger wrote: “The 1928 is great and I predict a great future for it”. We found these words in the archives after tasting it, and we can say that history has proved her right. We have always used cork for this tirage. The easiest approach would have been to use a metal stopper, but sticking to the concept of using cork is a stamp of the house style.
If your wine was a person, who would it be?
Not necessarily a person. While I find it quite hard to pin down, I would compare it to the painting of a great master, to a landscape viewed from a passing train on which shifting planes are superimposed. Our champagne has a highly evolving style, you pass through successive stages of fresh, ripe, stewed, and dried fruits, before you enter the creamy dimension, followed by the salinity, the complexity…
What are the best circumstances in which to taste your wine?
My first answer is with friends. We remember some champagnes because we have shared them. In the first place, I love sharing. I was married last year and had a get-together with some childhood friends that I have known since I was four, where I was struck by something fundamental: the best things in life stay the same. My second answer, in my capacity as an oenologist, is in a blind tasting, for the fun of discovery and the experience of surprise.
Have you ever thought about chemically enhancing yourself, or your wine?
Not really, what would be the point? There is no call for it, it’s the direct opposite of what Bollinger is about. As Madame Bollinger already used to say, back in her day: “Less is more”.
Who is your strongest competition in Champagne?
As someone who cultivates a collaborative professional culture, I see the others as colleagues, not competitors, and there is strength in unity. If, on the other hand, I had to pick a role-model, I would choose winemakers who have been able to put love for the terroir back at the heart of things, the ones who have nurtured and reinvigorated the terroirs of Champagne. From our perspective, we are fully aligned with this approach to the terroir, and we are taking it forward, with the village-based expressions of PN, with the creation of La Côte aux Enfants in a champagne version, and with the whole range of our parcel-focused wines.
Who would be your ideal successor on the podium?
I think more in terms of taking a step forward than of taking one up or down. So I do not see myself as on a podium. And for the time being the question does not arise.
Head of the estate and descendant of a family whose winemaking roots go back 500 years: “You can enjoy a rewarding conversation with a great wine all on your own”.
The eighth in Le Figaro Vin’s series finds us heading back to Alsace, to Domaine Zind-Humbrecht in Turckheim. Here we meet winemaker Olivier Humbrecht, #43, who has been responsible for the cultivation of over 40 hectares of biodynamic vines since the early 2000s. Picking up the baton from his father, Leonard, and assisted by his son, Pierre-Émile, Olivier Humbrecht creates sublime wines which fully express their extraordinary terroirs. He nurtures those terroirs with passion, commitment, and a profound respect for their natural balance.
Le Figaro Vin: How does it feel to be crowned a winemaking champion?
Olivier Humbrecht: I am not sure what a winemaking champion is. Is it someone who wins a race or who tops the rankings? Everything is so subjective in the field of wine, depending on individual taste and the circumstances of tasting. If you really want to make a great wine you go through moments of dread, you are tested, you must challenge yourself repeatedly and be ready for the worst that the climate, technical issues, society, or anything else might throw at you. It can be a very stressful experience but, when you know you have given it your all, you have nothing to regret.
Have you been training for long?
Our family has been making wine in Alsace since the early seventeenth century. My first officialvintage is 1989. I am the 12th generation, my son the 13th. He joined the estate three years ago. It is important to acknowledge how far you have come and what you have achieved, as it is for any athlete. Training is partly to do with seeing how far you can push things without running into trouble. You have to take risks to win a race, otherwise you will never attain excellence, but you must be prepared for those risks. Training, for us, might better be called an apprenticeship in viticulture. There is a different level of risk management in the vineyard to that in the cellar. In the cellar the winemaker is exposed to fewer external hazards than in the vineyard. Just like in chess, you have to anticipate all the potential moves in order to react to each of the tricks that nature plays on you.
Who is your mentor?
My father. Your mentor is the person who can keep you motivated, especially in complex, adverse, or unforeseen circumstances. Others can provide technical support, but not necessarily moral support, and that is important too.
Is wine a team sport?
Yes, absolutely. It’s extremely difficult to make a wine on your own. A winemaker depends on the contribution of others.
What is the key to making a good wine? The terroir or the winemaker?
You need both. The best racing driver will never win if he has a poor car, and he needs a support team too. You do need skill, but to make the most of it you need a terroir with a big personality. I always say that the quality of a wine is down to the winemaker, who has to make technical decisions, while a great wine is down to the terroir. The personality of a great wine is innate in a great terroir. And more than the terroir, our land, it’s down to the actual soil. The difference between a good wine and a great one is that the latter goes beyond the basic question of technical quality. It’s not just a case of being well made, a great wine has the capacity to transport the taster, to take him on a journey through time and culture, and to inspire him. And it must have a marked originality, transmitted through the terroir.
To what do you owe your success?
That rather begs the question of whether I have succeeded…I think that you really have to walk your talk. We can say all sorts of things that appeal to our customers, that the wine is unfiltered, that the vineyard is worked by horses. And while it is true that these things help to make great wines it’s not enough to say it, you have to actually do it. You have to be honest and humble. From my perspective honesty is an essential quality for making a great wine, you cannot afford to cut corners. It is possible to make a great wine by luck, and occasionally that may happen. But a great winemaker should be able to make a great wine, whether in a favourable vintage or a more testing one.
Is your father proud of you?
Yes, I think he is.
And your son?
You would have to ask him, but the fact that he has decided to work on the estate tells me that he sees something in it. One of the proudest feelings a father can have for his son is to have been able to pass on his love for the land. That love is visceral, a bit like one’s love for their child. That may be harder to understand if you don’t have a viticultural or agricultural background from birth.
Your favourite colour?
Grey or black, it changes with the seasons, white in spring, perhaps more yellow in summer and orange in autumn. Possibly green as the colour of nature. As far as wine is concerned, I absolutely refuse to answer the question, it is far too limiting. There are very good wines in every colour, not just red or white, although I have never seen blue wine or green wine! I don’t have a favourite between dry wines and sweet wines. What I don’t have time for are wines that bore me, which don’t have a story to tell. It has nothing to do with price, I want to feel the stamp of the winemaker’s labour, his dedication and his work ethic. And my mind is open to wines from across the world.
The king of grape varieties?
Jacques Puiset, former President of the Union of Oenologists, used to say that we should never blame the grape variety or the vine if the wine is no good. I wholeheartedly agree, there is no such thing as a lesser grape variety. Nor do I think that any grape variety is king, merely that some varieties are more tractable than others. When a grape variety is on the more testing side – such as Sylvaner, Pinot Blanc, or Auxerrois – so that you have to put more into your viticulture and into selecting the right location, your sense of achievement can be all the greater if you produce a great wine. You win more races with Pinot Noir, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, or even Pinot Gris. Muscat is rarely planted in Alsace, around one percent overall, but that would be a king for me, because if you come in first with a grape variety like that, it’s amazing!
Your favourite wine?
The Rangen de Thann Grand Cru. This is the most demanding of our vineyards, being very steep and evocative of extreme effort, but the hard work filters through to the wine, which is not always the case. It’s my favourite wine, not only for its quality but also for the energy you experience in the terroir. There is something about it which I find invigorating. For me a wine is a bit like a person. When you taste it there is a dialogue between you and the wine, and one wine can be tedious while another is animating.
If your wine was a person, who would it be?
My wine is like a painting, like Picasso’s Guernica! One time in New York I spotted that it was on exhibition at MoMA. I felt the full power of the painting, the full import of the painter’s expression, experienced all the pain and sorrow. I don’t mean that Rangen de Thann is a source of pain and sorrow, but it transmits a powerful emotion. If I had to compare it to a person it would be Jacques Brel, who had the capacity to thrill his audience through the power of his words.
What are the best circumstances in which to taste your wine?
You need to get into shape to taste a great wine. You have to prepare mentally and be open to pleasure. Then there are the technical requirements, such as the glass and the temperature. Many people say that a great wine is for sharing, but sometimes you are entitled to be selfish. Just as you have the right to watch a good film all on your own, you can enjoy a rewarding conversation with a great wine all on your own. There is one condition: don’t make others envious by telling them they have missed out, whereas you had it all to yourself! I frequently open a great bottle without regretting it later.
Have you ever thought about chemically enhancing yourself, or your wine?
Me, never, unless you count a glass of wine or an espresso…As far as I’m concerned adulterating wine is dishonest. A winemaker who does everything right can sometimes mitigate the effect of excessively hot summers and excessively cold or wet winters. If you genuinely give it everything the wine will always have something worth saying. Adulterating wine is just like Photoshop, you can never enhance the real thing. Or it may turn out that the wine is drunk by people who haven’t grasped the true value of the original, in which case it’s to do with customer education. Chemical intervention distorts the wine’s meaning. If you finally hit a brick wall, and the wine is really no good, your only options are to distil it or to make vinegar.
For what price would you be prepared to sell your estate?
That’s simply out of the question. People often say that everything has its price, but your love for your child is priceless. Would a mother sell her child? It’s almost an ethical and philosophical question. There are some plots that I might eventually sell some day, because of their limited agronomic potential, but without the good plots, the heart of the estate, there would be nothing left to live for.
What has been your most innovative strategy in the vineyard and in the cellar?
There is not much in the way of innovation. I am a fan of Einstein, who said that the most beautiful mathematical solution is always the simplest one. Innovation consists in seeking out the simplest and most beautiful pattern of work, to achieve beauty in the action of working. That involves giving up certain ways of doing things, even if you take advantage of other technical advances to relieve the more gruelling aspects of manual labour.
Who would be your ideal successor on the podium?
My son! Or my daughter, should she ever decide to work on the estate.