Although the beautiful region of Alsace is known for its white wines – as varied as they are exquisite – it is the smallest wine region in France.
In addition to having preserved a certain tradition in terms of production, it offers products of great quality, which over the years have improved, to the great pleasure of lovers of good wines!
One of the most emblematic domains in this region of eastern France – Domaine Schlumberger. In the hands of the same family for more than 200 years, it is unique.
Located on steep slopes with very poor sandy soil, the estate nevertheless offers wines of exceptional quality! Difficult to obtain and with very little mechanisation, only wines of impeccable quality are produced.
This choice, to keep only the best of the parcels, allows Schlumberger to guarantee wines of a constant quality and close to perfection. The promise of a luxury to be enjoyed – in moderation of course!
With a wide range offered by the House, it is impossible not to find something to suit your feet among the Riesling, Kitterlé or Ressler wines…
Seventh generation of this family estate steeped in history, Séverine Schlumberger agreed to answer our questions to reveal the most beautiful secrets of the great wines of Alsace. What a great way to make us want to discover even more these delicious and exceptional wines!
Meeting with Séverine Schlumberger
To begin and recontextualise for our readers, could you go back over the history of your vineyard and your role in it?
The Schlumberger estate came into the family in 1810, after Nicolas Schlumberger made his fortune in the textile industry. It was passed down from generation to generation for almost a century, as was the rest of the family estate – important in those days.
It was in the 1920s that the estate took off. We had just come through 50 years of German annexation, phylloxera and the First World War – which was particularly deadly in the region.
My great-grandfather Ernest was faced with many families wanting to sell this ravaged vineyard. As a good landowner and in order to preserve this magical place, he bought back a hundred hectares of vines and replanted them all.
In 1971, our father Eric took over the estate which, having “skipped a generation”, was in an advanced state of neglect. He “rolled up his sleeves” and took over the entire business, replanting the vines and developing the distribution network.
Today, my brother Thomas and I feel that we are the luckiest generation, as the estate has never been in such good condition in its 200-year history.
It is up to us to keep it going and to continue its development.
You represent the seventh generation in charge of this family estate. I imagine that perpetuating such a heritage represents an additional challenge, a particular sentimental charge?
It is indeed a form of responsibility but it is also what makes this profession so beautiful. We don’t work for ourselves but for the following generations, this impression of being a relay in history makes us very human and close to reality.
In view of the difficulties that our generation may be going through, it is very useful to be able to step back and put events into historical perspective. When you think that previous generations have experienced wars, hardship and grapevine disease, you think that inflation and economic crisis are not so bad.
Could you tell us about the particularity of your vineyard, a unique case in Alsace, notably thanks to your 70 ha classified as Grands Crus on four terroirs: Kitterlé, Kessler, Saering and Spiegel?
Domaine Schlumberger is quite unique. 100 ha of the 130 ha we own are on vertiginous slopes (similar to what we see in the Côtes du Rhône or the Douro in Portugal). 130 hectares of vines, that’s about 850 kms of linear vines: we go from Alsace to Brittany between 13 and 17 times a year!
In addition to the slope, we are on very poor, sandy soils (a bit like a dune at the seaside). The topography of the vineyard makes it particularly difficult to maintain with little mechanisation.
But on the other hand, we know that what is difficult to obtain is all the more valuable, and the quality results that we obtain on such a vineyard are quite exceptional.
And this makes the adventure all the more exciting ….
You are one of the key figures in Alsace wines, what does this region mean to you?
Alsace is the smallest wine-producing region in France and yet it is the one that offers the greatest diversity of white wines in the world. It is a region that has considerable assets due to its location at the crossroads of Europe.
This region has also managed to preserve its traditions, it sometimes seems a bit “frozen in time” but at a time when we are reaching the limits of ultra technology and ultra speed in everything, I think that it is a great value to know how to remain traditional and perennial.
Does Alsace offer particular opportunities in the face of market difficulties? I’m thinking in particular of the shortage of Grands Blancs in 2021 or the surge in prices.
In 2021, almost no French region had the capacity to produce enough white wine. Alsace has of course also suffered from serious climatic problems, but as the region tends to produce more than it sells, it has stocks.
And Alsace white wines have a great capacity to age and improve with time. This is, in my opinion, a great opportunity for the upcoming white wine shortage. And a golden opportunity for consumers to drink quality wines at prices that remain affordable.
You have chosen to work in an artisanal and manual way, respecting the environment with a limited production and a targeted distribution, could you tell us more about your production policy?
For us, true luxury is the possibility of not producing such and such a wine if the quality is not there. At Domaine Schlumberger this is our great strength, to be able to guarantee an irreproachable level of quality in each vintage (even in bad years).
To do this, we downgrade certain Grands Crus to AOCs (55% of the vineyard is classified as a Grand Cru but we only market 25% of our wines as Grands Crus), we keep the best of the Grands Crus parcels and the rest will improve the AOC.
In this way, we ensure a constant and optimum quality for each wine in the range. I think it’s a real luxury to be able to do that in 2022: to produce only what is good! And the only reason we can do that is because we are a family vineyard. As soon as you belong to a big group and there is speculation, this luxury becomes impossible.
You have a very complete range of wines in 3 ranges, could you tell us a bit about them?
We produce about 22 different wines each year. With the 7 Alsatian grape varieties in the AOC range called “Les Princes Abbés” – 8 wines in Grands Crus on 4 terroirs and about 3 late harvest wines. Plus some wines such as Premiers Crus or rosé.
We try to keep the range as clear as possible despite a very wide choice of wines. It is therefore almost impossible not to find at least one wine that you will like in Alsace as there is so much choice.
You offer a very fine range of Grands Crus with 3 grape varieties from 4 different terroirs in Guebwiller, in particular Riesling, one of the oldest and most noble grape varieties, what is its particularity?
Riesling is the fruit that offers the most acidity, it gives dry wines on which the “reading of the terroir” is easier. I always compare it to an apple: no matter when you drink it, it will always have a nice acidity (unlike Pinot Gris which reacts more like a peach).
Riesling is THE dry wine made for the table, it will express itself more at the table than on its own.
I always compare our 4 Grands Crus to 4 children: born in the same family with the same education but different personalities. Our job is to bring these personalities to full expression in your glass. For me, it’s a real jewellery job: the most precise thing you can do in wine making. In this, Alsace is unique!
Could you tell us about the process for creating a new vintage? How do you establish the rankings?
(smiling). A few weeks before the harvest, my brother Thomas organises a harvest meeting with the oenologist and the vineyard manager. They draw up a ‘battle plan’ according to the needs and, above all, the health of the vineyard. This always makes me smile, because the harvest plan often falls apart quickly in view of the scale of the task and the weather conditions (there are 850 km of vines to harvest!).
As for the work in the cellar, our oenologist sees each vintage as a new birth. A bit like a father with a large family who has to look after all his children… it’s a job that requires a lot of humanity and sensitivity.
In your opinion, if there were only one, what would be the most iconic wine of Domaine Schlumberger?
Twenty years ago, without any hesitation I would have said the Pinot Gris Grand Cru Kitterlé. Pinot Gris are for me the most difficult wines to produce and they are the signature of Alsace (I have never tasted anything equivalent elsewhere in the world).
With this wine, you reach the ultimate precision of what you can do: a bit like cutting the most beautiful diamond.
Today, even if Pinot Gris remains my favourite grape variety, my heart sways because I also love all the wines of the Grand Cru Kessler. It is my most feminine Grand Cru and the Rieslingsare simply exceptional.
Is there a context in which you like to taste it? A place, a time, a food/wine pairing?
For me, the Kitterlé Pinot Gris Grand Cru is an autumn wine, a season I love. I serve it with cheese platters for a meal dedicated to cheese or with a more Asian recipe.
I also like to drink it on its own in front of a good film or a fire. It is the cocooning wine, which puts balm in the heart and which “consoles” (to be drunk in moderation of course!)
Finally, at Icon-Icon we are interested in products, places, iconic experiences, is there a smell, a memory, a place or even an object that you can’t get rid of or that has marked your life and that you would like to share with us?
I answered all the previous questions with extreme ease and this one I must admit is more difficult. I eliminate the object directly because I am not a materialist and for me only emotions and memories count.
I have many emotions and memories, both comical and sad.
Perhaps the most memorable was in 2001, when I started at the domain. remember being in the vineyard with the deep conviction that I was in the right place. I had the strange feeling that the vine was running through me, that it was “running through my veins”… this job became a matter of course and I have never regretted it!
Interview by Sébastien Girard, President of Icon-Icon and Sasjia Blanc
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