Dopff & Irion

To the Renaissance, the vineyards in Alsace are thriving, especially in Riquewihr. Building is going on everywhere, trade is booming, wine is a precious commodity. The Dopff and the Irion families put their heart and soul into winegrowing. Wines from Riquewihr were famed throughout Europe.

The tale of a pioneer: René Dopff, one of André Malraux’ closest friends, who took over Dopff & Irion in 1945…

He broke away from the old wine ma...

DOPFF & IRION makes its wines from 27 hectares of vines within the district of Riquewihr, a large area considering the usual size of estates in Alsace (60% of production sites cover less than one hectare).
 

There is no question that the area around Riquewihr is blessed with every possible natural attribute for successful vine cultivation. The climate is such that the grapes ripen slowly. To the west, the Vosges mountains minimize oceanic ...

Harvesting

The northerly location of the vineyards in Alsace makes the quest for optimal maturity all the more important. As soon as the grape berries begin to change colour, levels of maturity in each vineyard are checked regularly so that the grapes are harvested as ripe as possible. Harvesting is therefore timed to pinpoint the best balance between levels of sugar and acidity. The grapes are picked by hand and sorted if necessary. Then t...

Only mature and healthy grapes can yield great wines. The more concentrated the fruit, the greater the expression of the terroir. This is why we limit our yields to below the levels established by the INAO. Yields for our Grands Crus never exceed 45 to 50 hectolitres per hectare and we make our estate wines according to Grand Cru standards.
 
Pruning: Our vines are short pruned and the canes cut back to half size. This way, we eliminate the ...