Winemakers: Pierre Frick

Encompassing 12 hectares of diverse terroirs and expositions in the northern part of of the Haut-Rhin, 12 generations of vineyard expertise, and over 50 years of organic farming, the domaine Pierre Frick is symbolic of a re-turning towards nature and has served as an inspiration for the large majority of more recent generation low-intervention winemakers in Alsace. One of the first wineries to be certified by Demeter (1981), the domaine is amongst the pioneers of biodynamics in the winemaking world—an approach that is passionately continued by Jean-Pierre and Chantal Frick to this day.

Engaged, entertaining, and the humblest of hosts, sitting around the table with Chantal and Jean-Pierre is a singular experience, where wine serves as the vector to a plethora of stories and exchanges that have touched and enriched me at a profound level. A descent down into the cellar, and you find yourself dwarfed amidst a world of vintage foudres lining corridors in multiple directions, basically as far as the eye can see. The name “Frick” is perhaps most famous, or even notorious, for being “sans soufre”—presenting wines without added sulfur since 1999—yet this is a simplification of what each cuvée actually embodies. With a few small exceptions, all wines are issued from grapes from a single respective plot, each representing a specific cépage on a select terroir. In the cellar, everything is aged on fine lees, and this aging continues until Jean-Pierre and Chantal feel—or the wine signals to them—that it is ready to be bottled. Depending on the cuvée, additional aging in bottle is also taken advantage of; an option of great importance that many long-standing wineries—particularly in Alsace—have the privilege of benefiting from.