Cave de Ribeauvillé

The tradition of the Cave de Ribeauvillé

The Cave de Ribeauvillé is part of a long French tradition. The Lords of Ribeaupierre and the Benedictine monks have long worked the land to create the Ribeauvillé vineyards. The famous Clos du Zahnacker owes its creation to the monk-knight Martin Zahn, who settled here on his return from the Crusades.

Founded in 1895, the Cave de Ribeauvillé is France's oldest wine cooperative. In that year, the region was separated from France, and the local winegrowers decided to restructure the vineyards and the way they operated. They applied the precepts of an avant-garde German theorist: Frédéric Raiffeisen. "Rappoltsweiler Winzerverein" was thus the first name of the Cave de Ribeauvillé, France's first winery.

Each winegrower sold all his grapes to the cooperative, and the team in place took charge of vinification and packaging. A sales team was then responsible for distributing the wines.

This spirit of solidarity has survived the years, and today the Cave de Ribeauvillé is renowned for its ethics, as much as for the quality of its wines.

The visit to the Cave de Ribeauvillé

The Cave de Ribeauvillé is a prestigious place to visit and enjoy tasty wine tastings. A team is on hand to welcome families and groups. It's also possible to explore the vineyards.

The Cave de Ribeauvillé vineyard

The vineyards cultivated by the winegrowers attached to the Cave de Ribeauvillé cover 235 hectares, including 8 Grands Crus. The charter involves integrated or organic viticulture, as well as manual harvesting.

The Cave de Ribeauvillé has equipped itself with state-of-the-art equipment, in order to get the best out of the whole bunches it receives. Extraction in the vats is by gravity, and the wine-making process respects the purity of the grape variety, as well as the identity of each terroir.

The aim of our winemaking is to produce wines that are frank, fresh and fruity. They always express the richness of Alsace's great terroirs.

The wines of the Cave de Ribeauvillé

Gewurztraminer

Gewurztraminer is a grape native to northern Italy's Alto Adige region, where its parent variety, Traminer, has been cultivated since the Middle Ages. Gewurztraminer means spicy Traminer. This is the most aromatic grape variety in Alsace, with its small, hard-skinned bunches. This early-ripening grape offers a palette of flavors that blends flowers, exotic fruits and spices. The wine is rich and complex.

The Sylvaner from Alsace

Sylvaner d'Alsace is a white wine produced in the Alsace vineyards. This late grape variety produces a light wine with discreet fruitiness, but great refreshing power. It is long-lived and will enhance all your seafood, fish and shellfish dishes.