Guebwiller

France

“The most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst lovely things.”

Plato

For the next few days, I will play amongst lovely things.

A good sleep and a slow start to the morning.

Only four hours to Domaine Bohème I art de vivre, the most impressively cool apartment, in the most impressively cool village – Guebwiller.

One of my many flaws is that if something is popular, it is not for me. I guess this makes me contrarian, but no one married to Rachelle could survive being argumentative.

Guebwiller over Colmar. Alsace over Burgundy. If it is out of fashion, I am all in.

For a decade I have refused to embrace ‘natural wine’ – in this, definitely contrarian.

We stop in Bitche to fuel up. I don’t care how it should be pronounced; this village has an excellent name.

A roadside picnic and some time to kill before we can check into Domaine Bohème I art de vivre.

I have a reservation at Domaine Christian Binner for 1.30 pm. We arrive in Ammerschwihr with 45 minutes to kill and stroll around its quiet, stunning rues.

I come across the most beautiful sleeping kitten on the side of the road. It is grey with black stripes; its fur is long and soft. The wind shifts it, soft as silk. It is curled peacefully in the sunshine. Its perfect little face in repose.

Then I notice the flies. It takes a moment to realise the kitten is dead. I have a moment of overwhelming sadness. Near tears, I head back to Shell and decide whether or not to tell her. She takes these things even harder than I do. In the end, I selfishly share what I have seen because I know it will make me feel better.

It does, but I have made Shell sad.

“Life is for the living.
Death is for the dead.
Let life be like music.
And death a note unsaid.”

Langston Hughes

I forgive Domaine Christian Binner for being a proponent of natural wine because they are not cool.

I don’t mean this as an insult, but they talk about organic, biodynamic and, natural winemaking in a cavalier manner that it just doesn’t really matter.

There is truth to this apathy; they were doing all these things before it was cool. At the turn of the century, when winemakers were given the gift of yeast, Domaine Binner stuck with wild yeasts. In the 1960s, when everyone switched to chemical spraying, Christian’s grandfather decided it wasn’t for him. In the 1970s, when Alsace decided its aromatic wines found purity in stainless steel, the Binners stuck with huge old oak botti.

These days, everyone is clamouring to be ‘organic’ and ‘biodynamic’. All the cool winemakers are using ‘natural yeast’ and making wild, natural wines that speak of the vineyard and the vintage.

Domaine Binner just never stopped doing this. They even plough the vine row with a horse. Not because it looks good on socials, but because they have always done it this way.

Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring back in 1962. She was calling out pesticides 60 years ago. Was Grandpa Binner an environmentalist or just a stubborn old guy? Contrarian or environmentalist?

We are taken through eight wines –

2014 Domaine Christian Binner Crémant d’Alsace “KB” Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris- Alsace, France

2019 Domaine Christian Binner Hinterberg Auxerrois Riesling – Alsace, France

2021 Domaine Christian Binner Côtes d’Amourschwihr Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer – Alsace, France

2019-2024 Domaine Christian Binner SiRose Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris – Alsace, France

2021 Domaine Christian Binner Côtes d’Amourschwihr Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris – Alsace, France

2023 Domaine Christian Binner Pinot Noir – Alsace, France

2018 Domaine Christian Binner Pinot Noir Cuvée Excellence – Alsace France

2003 Domaine Christian Binner Muscat Hinterburg SGN Botrytis – Alsace, France

All of these wines represent something unique, a moment of time and place in Alsace. They do not all work, but they are individual and a pure expression of wine with minimal human intervention.

Domaine Christian Binner went a long way to convincing me that natural wines have a role to play in the industry. The problem remains: if Binner is the pinnacle of the natural wine expression, his wines remain inconsistent. The extreme high points of the Crémant, SiRone and Botrytis Muscat are undone by the unapproachable…. rest.

We grabbed three bottles, checked in to our apartment, and went into the village to get some food that worked with these wines.

To start –

2014 Domaine Christian Binner Crémant d’Alsace “KB” with mackerel in mustard, Presskopf, Jambon cru d’Alsace, Lard fumé, Palette fumé and Kassler fumé.

I shy away from processed meats that resemble devon. I have school lunch trauma. These are excellent.

The Crémant is brilliant. Youthful, despite its 12 years. Dry and cuts through the fatty charcuterie.

Next –

2019-2024 Domaine Christian Binner SiRose with local sausages – Knack d’Alsace, Mettwurst and Schwàrturscht, Salade de pommes de terre alsacienne and salade grecque.

A polarising rosé. A blend of five vintages and three grapes. It is funky, weird, and goes well with the sausages.

The sausages are great.

Finally –

2003 Domaine Christian Binner Muscat Hinterburg SGN Botrytis with Roqufeort.

Honestly, nothing comes close to botrytis for sweet wines. And nothing comes close to botrytis at 23 years of age.

I have drunk too much.

What a wonderful start to the Alsace.

“Hope
Smiles from the threshold of the year to come,
Whispering ‘it will be happier’…”

Alfred Lord Tennyson (Alfdawg)