Domaine Schlumberger assesses frost damage

Domaine Schlumberger, a leading wine producer in Alsace with roughly 70 hectares of grand cru vineyards in the region, is still reeling from the devastating February frost as flowering season approaches, according to its sixth generation owner Alain Beydon.

Alain Beydon, president and CEO of Domaine Schlumberger in Alsace

Speaking to dbHK during his recent trip to Hong Kong at a lunch hosted by local importer Altaya Wines, the vintner remains anxious about the upcoming flowering season in early June when the winery will get a clearer idea of the frost damage on the vines.

“With hail you see immediately the damage but with frost it’s a bit complicated, so we’ll see how many of the vines have survived during flowering,” Beydon said.

He believes the damage on vines is worsened by the prolonged destruction of what he calls ‘black frost’, which can essentially affect both 2017 and 2018 vintages.

“What happened this year is that we had a very warm January and February – unusually warm – so the shoots came out earlier than before, particularly for Gewürztraminer. Normally when frost happens, it lasts for one night. [It] begins usually around 3am, but this time it was what we call the ‘black frost’ that starts at 11pm and then lasts for the whole night,” he explained, “But what’s unusual is that we had black frost for five days!”

Located in Guebwiller in the southern part of Alsace, most of the winery’s vineyards are on hillsides, which helped lessen the effect of frost, he adds.

“For some wineries on the valley floor, production is impossible,” he states, adding that many growers’ angst is compounded by the fact that many do not have insurance.

The winery has about 70 hectares of grand cru vineyards in Alsace, including Kessler, Kitterle, Saering and Spiegel. This makes it the largest owner of grand cru sites in the region.

Its latest vintage, the 2014, has just been released in Hong Kong with Altaya Wines, including Schlumberger Riesling ‘Les Princes Abbes’, Schlumberger Riesling Grand Cru ‘Saering’, Schlumberger Gewurtzraminer ‘Les Princes Abbes’, Schlumberger Pinot Gris ‘Les Princes Abbes’ along with its acclaimed sweet wine – Pinot Gris SGN Cuvée Clarisse 2009.

The winery’s production is primarily focused on white wines consisting of Pinot Gris, Riesling and Gewurtzraminer with a tiny portion of Pinot Noir, a grape variety that has struggled with ripeness in the more northerly part of France, resulting in wines that are too acidic, according to Beydon.

“But thanks to global warming, we can have the full maturation of the Pinot Noir,” he states but adds that the red grape variety is not a focus for the winery.

Established in 1810, the winery currently has 140 hectares of vineyards.