Every body was happy to finish this very long harvest time of 2012 because we had to stop many times and find the best moment for each grappe variety in each vineyard. A joyfull last meal together on october 17th, last picture of the team, and the list for 2013 is open ! have a look at the pictures of this 2012 vintage here

Spring 2012 was difficult, a very long flowering time, not to hot, some rain and cold days, a few Muscat lost the flowers, June was weat and july not very hot at the begining, some illness started in a few parts of the wine region (mildiou, oïdium) but not in Katzenthal which is still the dryest region in France. August was very dry and hot and grappes get a lot of sun and warmness and we get a lot of hopes. Small yield for sure but beautifull grappes and best conditions for the maturity. We have still sun and hot days and nights , and expect to start mid of september

July 16 th and 17 th: second and last embotteling for the vintage 2011, these are 2 leaf days in the biodynamic planing 2012. Pinot noir Klur, grands crus riesling and pinot gris, also gewurztraminer Klur are now ready for labeling. A lot to do in the wine cellar a few days before embotteling and the same in the vineyards because the leaves and grass growed quickly even if june was not very warm. A hail storm damage on a few vineyards but not too strong as you see it on the picture below. There is some illness, mildiou and oïdium but very local and we bring air and sun to the grappes actually. It will probably be a vintage with a small quantity of grappes: rain and coldness during the flowering. At the moment the weather is hot and dry, we have to be patient...

It is spring time and the sap rises in the vines... a new cycle will start soon... at the same time the wines in the cellar start a little fermentation... mystère

A really good day (flower) for this 2011 vintage embotteling of crémant. The first day of warmer weather too because this winter time was really hard. First flowers in front of the wine estate shop this morning too ! After harvest of these grappes early september, vinification, tartaric precipitation outside (the temperature was perfect for this), the machine shaked the bottles during a few hours but now they will stay quiet during minimum 12 months until disgorgement. Spring time is coming and work too...we finished pruning, next week we will travel to Düsseldorf like each year to meet some importers at the trade fair Prowein and after we start binding and so on....

Until 2012 wines from the organic farming are excluded
from the European regulation on organic production of agricultural products and indications referring thereto on agricultural products and foodstuffs. So alsation wine growers decided 2 years ago to make their own reglementation from the grapes to the bottles including the wine making process. Sometimes difficult discussions hapened but we succeded and this high standart adapted to Alsace climatic conditions and wines is now signed but 36 winegrowers.



Under a beautiful sunny Monday, October 17, 2011 that were harvested late harvest! The closing of the 2011 harvest promises a beautiful vintage with a Gewurztraminer containing 18 ° degree, small quantities but a nectar bewitching ...

Until the year 2011 for a new tasting trip, come and enjoy your taste in Klur giving you a taste and a warm welcome from Monday to Saturday from 13:30 to 18:00.

Beware the sun begins to be small, so hurry to admire the beautiful scenery offered by the heights of Katzenthal!

A lot of buzz around the press....beautifull nights and days, beautifull grappes, wine growers are happy this year, espacially organic ones. The Rendez Vous with quantities and quality is perfect: at Klur wine estate we noticed: 12 degres for pinot blanc, 13 for pinot noir, 14 for pinot gris, 13 for sylvaner. The fermentations started very quick and we have to control the temperatures very carefully but everything is doing well and there are these special sounds in the wine cellars actually...This week we will pick the muscat, grands crus wineck schlossberg riesling and gewurztraminer, and keep the gewurztraminer Hinterburg for the late harvest in about 2 or 3 weeks. Pictures of the day: our holiday guest of Garden Side house participate to the sounds of the press activity by day and night...the visit of the 3rd class of the Waldorf school was a success and they harvested all the pinot noir of the "school vineyard together" and need some outdoor plays after the picnic. A lot of questions around the press, the juice, the marc,  oh ! " Hurry hurry its time to go !!"

Clément wanted to wait for the best quality we may have, so we waited until this 14th september to start picking the pinot blanc grappes. Beautifull weather, berries and harvest team... it seems there is one who needs a lot of sleep after half a day work .... fresh news soon

Another very early vintage: after 2003 we will again start harvest end of august. After a very hot and dry spring, the vine flowering started end of may and after vinestocks need 100 days to fullfill their work... at the moment the weather is still dry even if we had some rain yesterday, the grappes are beautifull and will start to become some colour now. Clément is very happy about the soil and grass work, and we will need to share the young vinestocks during the next days and after wait for maturation...If you are interested by joining us for harvest you are welcome, let us know soon...

The great last day of harvest with many of horne noise, the blue racing car went at less 4 times for a drive around the village !! The two last tractors are coming in the line driven by Eric and Clément. The last meal was served with a lot of wine and almost all the heads have been crowned. The 1st one was Richard, with the most beautifull hat for many years... News from the wines will come soon...

2 more days for the riesling in the Grand Cru Wineck-Schlossberg. Always nice weather, chilly nights, sunny days,beautifull and colorfull landscapes  for a few days and also beautifull grappes however not much. A picture of the Hinterburg taken by a paragliding friend ! A smiling team with seems to like the organic meal (but actually not always vegetarian...), we are waiting for your commentaries... October is also a month very busy with many of visits. And so we had many small danish, belgium, german and french groups for St Médard, St Morand, St Urbain wine-tasting; here in the wine-cellar while the wines were singing with this swedish wine-lovers, the last week.

We started at the same time as last year, short after september 20th with the pinot grappes for crémant. It is difficult this year to decide on which day we will pick which grappes because rotness is developing faster on some winestocks even if we have no problems with it this year, maturity of early grappe varieties like muscat which is not at the optimum, ochslés degres of others who increased very fast, like pinot gris and pinot noir. We had much more frost desaster then we thought and in a few pinot blanc vineyards we yearned 10 hectolitres hectar instead of 40 or 50 usual... At october first we have done the half work and will stop for a week. Here the first pictures: Clément seems tired and Eric is driving him around, we need to know the weight of each grappe box, our horses like grappes very much and they enjoyed to look at the press, they received a grappe... just one...

The general meeting of wine-growers from Alsace has proposed the 27 of september for the wines and after the 5th of october for the grands crus. The harvest for the  crémant d'Alsace has already started this week for some of us, we will do it next week.The chilled nights and the sun of september helped to make the alcohol degrees to increase from 1 to 2 degrees. The high tartaric acidity and dthe correct healthy condition could give a great vintage. But nothing is done yet. We have to stay vigilant, to pay attention on the evolution of each field, pick up the most respectfully possible without damaging the grapes.... the landscape is more and more colored, as you can see on this picture. The grape-picker team is quite complete now. The press also notices an expansion in  organic alsacian wine, as you can see it ithis week-end in the fair  in Obernai, where wine is important. 200 wine-growers, 1437 hectares are organic (almost 10 % of the totality), among them 17 wine-estate with 190 ha in 2009.

La revue La Vigne consacre un dossier spécial à la viticulture durable, aux manières de traiter plus intelligement, à la viticulture bio et bien sûr aux constructions de caves. L'équipe de rédaction a rendu visite au Vignoble Klur pour étoffer son article. La cave répond aux critères que la revue donne pour prioritaires: la valorisation de la gravité en construisant un chai sur un terrain en pente permettant de traiter le raisin verticalement (pressoirs en haut et cave de vieillissement au plus bas), d'utiliser des matériaux naturels (pierres, bois, torchis, plantes), d'utiliser l'énergie solaire et le recyclage de l'eau, de privilégier l'intégration paysagère notamment par une toiture végétalisée.                                                                                         
 

 Vol d'ange au Neïbari l'un des coteaux de Katzenthal.Francis Klee natif du village et oenologue de profession est un adepte du survol des Grands Crus d'Alsace en parapente. "C'est au dessus de Katzenthal que j'ai été initié au vol thermodynamique par une buse, du pur bonheur !" raconte t'il. En effet le vallon est recherché pour le vol libre en raison de ses nombreux courants d'air chaud, un bonheur aussi pour les vignes....

 At the back of the valley next to the village we have saules trees longing the stream. We use the dried and crushed bark, about 50 grammes of bark infused for 20 minutes in 5 litres of very hot water. Diluted at the 10th then added (sometimes mixed with nettles) in the pulverising recipient sometimes with copper.
This mixture is used in the prevention of mildew. It should be harvested in the spring before the leaves come out. It has been kown for ages due to its saliciyclic acid (which is the base of aspirin).

Winter is a rest period for the soil, the plant and the winegrower; in this season, the sap and the water go very deep under the earth, it's the same for our energy, an introversion time. It's a season on which it feels so good to be doing nothing, like the nature...WE DREAM ABOUT IT... Actually, the riesling and gewurztraminer grand cru are still fermenting in the wine cellar and we have to check it, nearby, we have to prepare orders to be exported, we label bottles due to the sales of the end of the year, at the office, we are handling the accouting, the customer contact, prospects, we are preparing the win -fair for spring 2010. At the same time, outside, we go on pruning and rooting out, we juggle with the good dates of the "calendrier des semis" and with the snow or extreme cold ...

A vintage with little steps, we harvest 2 days and stop, harvest again and stop etc... the sky is still blue, indian summer in Alsace ! This morning we went to the Wineck-Schlossberg hill to cut the riesling grand cru grappes (13,5° alcohol), tomorrow we will continu with the gewurztraminer and finish this 2009 harvest. In the wine cellar the fermentations are going on very fast, pinot blanc and pinot gris go to finish soon. Below the first picture of the pinot noir from our little "school-vineyard". We press it by feet.. and will give you a detailled report soon. Linda and Doug Posson from Colorado and the  Koch family from Ruederbach joined us for a day. Thank you !.

Nice grappes, beautiful weather, favorable days, motivated team, the winegrower is happy. This early vintage has kept its promise and any rain or storm didn't give trouble during the last days.  Nights are cool, days are sunny. Everything is here to give a great harvest which looks promising. Now, we have picked up all  pinots, muscats and sylvaner and we are waiting a few days before going on with riesling and gewurztraminer. The fermentation have started slowly, and we will tell you about the juce later. More détails and a retrospective of 2009 in the rest. 

29 avril 2009, it is springtime and everything awakes  ! this special and rare vineyards tulips bring a lot of sunshine actually. It is a period of soil work and for the biodynamic preparation called 500. Yesterday was perfect because the rain of the night opened the soils after 10 days of very hot and dry weather. At 6 pm everything was ready except this home made engin used to spray the preparation on the vineyards soils, Clément had to repare quick before spreeding out until the night. During the day we prepared the embotteling of next week and had to clean the tuns. As pinot gris Klur and riesling grand cru Wineck Schlossberg are still in fermentation, the wines for the Voyou de Katz and Gentil de Katz 2008 are ready. Today 2 delegations of the national organisation Vignerons Independants visited us. 50 wine growers from other regions in France interested by organic growing, architecture, and wine tourism. This is  the wine growers life...always jumping from one work to the other !

After this long winter time, the first flowers came out this week...we just finished cuting the vines (its called pruning) because we started late january to respect the rythm of the plant. Actually we start to attach the vine shoots, this a women work, man repar the system of trellising (but organisation may also be different). Everything is still asleap outside but there is some activity in the wine cellar: some of our 2008 wines didn't finish their fermentation. Perhaps they also feel the growing up of the sap in the vine stocks outside.... Last 2 months we didn't have a lot of opportunities to respect the moon rythms because we had to share our outside work between the rain periods and snow storms, a real wintertime !! normally it is better to prun young vinestock at downward and weaker ones at rising moon but it is not always possible.  Either we didn't spread the bio dynamic preparations for the soil because it was to weat and the tractor would have pack the ground of the vineyards and this is not good for the life in the soil in spring. We will do it this month and tell you about it.  Maria Thun's calender of sowings remembers us that "if the meadows are covered with snow in march, the harvest will be good", so everything is perfect, just be patient.... 

Just one week before Thanksgiving we harvested the last grappes of this vintage. After the stop of last week with sunshine and cold nights we picked the riesling and gewurztraminer from monday october 20th to thursday (stop on wednesday because of the showers). Early this monday morning Eric climbed up to the Grand Cru Wineck Schlossberg hill (first picture left), exposed south-south-east. The long maturation period of these grappes gave probably an interesting complexity to the aromes, we will tell you more in a few weeks. Riesling Grand Cru 13,5 degrees, Riesling Klur (from old vines) 13 degrees, Gewurztraminer from Hinterburg and Heiligbrunn at least 15 degrees. The team is smilling on this very last picture because they are all very tired, so do Clément bringing back the last grappes on thursday evening. Elisa tries to drive the Fennwick to bring the grappes up to the press, not easy ... in a forgotten seal in the garden we found a curious visitor, beautifull and very rare salamander, we brought it back to the grass very quick.  The "Herbschtbrot" is the traditionnal party for the evening when grappe picking ends and this year Fusila cooked a morrocan couscous for us ! something different that choucroute and an opening to another culture. Petit Pierre liked it very much and also the big bottle of wine....finally some morrocan musique and dances finished this hard period

Pinot gris and riesling Klur for the begining of this week with a large team for a few days. Nice grappes with good alcool levels: 13 for the riesling and 15 for the pinot gris, for the specialists this means 92 and 105 oechslés. Two former wine pickers from Michigan came back after 25 years. Lynn and Jacques met at Klur winestate, get maried, had beautifull children, and love Alsace wines !! 

Sun and a only a few clouds help the grappes to maturity. This week we wait before picking pinot gris, sylvaner and the other varieties. In the tuns the juices of last week began the fermentation: only the crémant juice (on the left) is a little sparkling, the others are still quiet. We don't use external yiest so we have to be patient.
 

Look at this ! the first juice of this vintage coming out of the wine press ! we started the Crémant harvest september 22nd with the grappe varieties Pinot Blanc and Pinot Auxerrois. A wonderfull week with cold nights, perfect to concentrat the aroms in the berries and sunny days. Some of these vinestocks get injured by the hail storm in july 2007 but are well know even if the yield is lower than 2006. In anoter vineyard we had a beginning of rot on the grappes (a lot of rain this summer) but  we sorted the grappes in the vines and the result is well. The 2008 team is very attentive "and works well" say Clément. "11 degrees for the Crémant juice is perfect". If the weather remains stable we will wait until 5 or 6 oktober to continue with the other grappe varieties. The story will continue later.....

Définitions :
Définition légale : « agriculture n’utilisant pas de produits chimique de synthèse, dite agriculture biologique ». Définition agronomique : « Agriculture basée sur la gestion rationnelle de la fraction vivante du sol, dans le respect des cycles biologiques et de l’environnement pour une production de qualité, équilibrée, plus autonome, plus économe et non polluante. »

Objectifs : Ecologiques :
-préserver les équilibres naturels du sol et des plantes
-favorise le recyclage 

Firstly: to make an «organic» wine you need organic grapes! To make a « wine from organic grapes», organic winemakers pledge to manage their vineyard by organic rules.  They confrom to a European regulation, that respects the territory and environment.  All of the vineyards are inspected each year, by certified organisations, recognized by the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of the economy.
What about the wine-making?  Organic vineyards have developed folders with techniques used to guarantee an "organic" elaboration of wine (Charter of the national federation of interprofessionals of organic wine and agriculture", different rules…)  The respect of these rules is verified by independant organisms that control organic grapes.  They guarantee: anoverall organic appproach, from planting to the bottle, the total absence of GMOs, the minimal utilisation of additives, restricted a very short list.
What about your health in all of this? The Association for Therapeutic Anti-cancer Research reminds us that « it is scientifially proven that "organic" food is more rich in antioxydants and vitamins than traditional alimentation. »

The peparation 500 or "bouse de corne" occupies an important place in biodynamic agriculture because it pertains to the soil and the roots of the plants. It is obtained by fermenation in the soil during the winter of cow dung introduced into cow horns by particular procedures.  The corns are pulled out of the soil and the dung must be humid, thin, supple, and without odor in order to be used. It is conserved in a ceramic recipient sheltered from the sun, in a trunk of wood, for example.  This is preparation is used at least twice a year, in the spring and fall, a bt before the biological activity in the soil becomes more active. The preparation is pulverised in the evening after being touched up.
This preparation favors microb activity in the soil, the formation of humus and ameliorates the absorption and the retention of water in the soil which regulates the pH (increases it in acidic soils and lowers it in basic soils). It stimulates the germination of grains, the growth of root systems, and helps the dissolution of minerals in the soils.

Above all we use a mix of copper and sulfer based products to minimize the necessary dose. The nettle mixture is a stimulant of vegetative growth. It is also resistant to mildew and helps control anthropods. The best time to harvest it is at the beginnng of its flowering, but we always have nettles on reserve, used regularly. It gives us fresh nettles during the whole season. 1 kg of fresh nettles for 5 liters of water, boil and leave to infuse for 10 to 20 minutes, dilute until you have 40 liters of product to pulverise per hectare.

Preparations of 500 and 501 are diluted in water and stirred with alot of energy for 1 hour before bieng pulverised. The bewing may be done in a copper, wood, or enamel recipient that is large permitting a good vortex. We use copper with palpeur of an Australian type, as well as rain water that has been collected. will stirring, the water will form a deep vortex, changing directions equals chaos.

Small quantities are used for the mixture: 100 grams de bouse de corne in 30 litres of water can be used in 1 hectare, and 2 to 4 grams de silice de corne per hectare in 30 litres of water.  Pulverisation must be done as soon as the brewing is finished, at high pressure (like fog) for the silice and at low pressure for the bouse de corne (medium sized drops).

Bio, biodynamics, resaonable cultivation, natural wine ....a plethora of terms exist that do not necessarily designate the same thing. Reasonable culitvation's goal is to minimize interventions in vineyards, by reducing the dose of products used, it should be the minimumu standard of all agrticultural activity (wine or cereale as well as leasure gardeners). Organic agriculture goes further and prohibits synthetic chemical products. It seeks first and foremost, to preserve the planet's natural balances. You cannot simply inject nutrients into the earth and expect it to produce more.  It is living and we must respect it. ORganic agriculture is controlled and labelized. Biodynamic agriculture is inspired by organic agriculture but adds the notion of dynamisme to the vignes helping them resist against exterior agressions on their own with the help of natural products administered in homeopathique doses.  Choosing certain plant mixtures and the right time of year to apply them makes all the difference.

The origin of biodynamics: in 1924 Rudolf Steiner an Austrien philospher taught the pre-cursors of this method in his agriculture classes. Since, thousands of farmers from all over the world have begun experimenting and exchanging their practices. Biodynamics require careful observation of the vignes and flexibility from the grower.

Principles : Biodynamics considers that agriculture is a part of a system in which the components are inter-dependent on each other.  The method seeks to balance the cultures with their immediate surroundings (soil, microclimate, ecosystem) and even further (Earth, planets, sun, moon).

The cycles: you know that the moon has an effect on the swamps, this appears to be evidnt and unquestionable, why does this effect not happen with cultures of plants? The sun also has an unquestionable influence on the Earth why not on the the planets closer to the sun? Biodynamics defends the idea that the Earth is part of a vast system where all planets are interdependent on each other and where each brings energy to the others.  Biodynamics tries to channel these energies.

Read the artciles on soil, on the seeding calendar, under 500 et 501.

Terroir is not only soil and climate but also the time that man has invested in the soil. There are vineyards in Katzenthal that have been cultivated since the time of the Romans.  This wine has been well-known since the 13th century.  Here's the proof!

Since when have vines been growing in Katzenthal ?

Goetz write to his brother chanoine in Thann: "I have opened up a speculative commerce that might bring us large fortunes. This speculation counts of the good wines of Alsace. The only thing that yoy need to do, is help us transport the wines of Katzenthal by Strasbourg and Hollande ", this was February 7th, 1783.

Catzelthal....from 1240 and on a map maker mentioned nine groupings of vignes in the hinterland of Ingerheim, Katzenthal and Ammerschwihr. The maturity of wines from Katzenthal needs no more proof. In the same era Werner de Hattstatt offers two juchert of vignes "in Cuttenthal" near Katzenthal to the monks of Unterlinden in Colmar...