Domaine Marcel Deiss

Located in Bergheim, in the heart of Alsace Grand Cru country, Domaine Marcel Deiss was founded in 1947. The Deiss family is a long line of wine growers and blacksmiths, and the estate is currently managed by Mathieu Deiss with the help of his father Jean-Michel (Marcel’s grandson). Domaine Marcel Deiss have 32 hectares of vineyards spread over numerous sites in nine villages, all of which are certified organic and biodynamic (the latter conversion took place in 1998).

Uniquely, for the region, Marcel Deiss believes strongly in terroir expression over grape varietal expression, and thus, in 1990, starting with the ‘Altenberg de Bergheim’ Grand Cru vineyard, he converted several of his top grand cru vineyard sites to co-plantation. Co-plantation is the mixing of different grape varieties in a vineyard and, according to the Deiss family, produces wines which reflect the terroir on which they are grown more than the individual grape variety and is “the only way to obtain real stability in the personality of each terroir”.  

Altenberg de Bergheim, for example, is planted with 13 Alsatian grape varieties which are then harvested, pressed, and vinified together. Jean-Michel also believes that by deliberately omitting varietal information on the label, “we enable our customers’ innate recognition of the terroir’s characteristics”. The Grand Cru wines age in foudres (large oak barrels) and spend around a year on the lees.

We offer the following Alsace from Domaine Marcel Deiss:

• Domaine Marcel Deiss Schoenbourg Grand Cru
• Domaine Marcel Deiss Altenberg de Bergheim Grand Cru