# Krax Riesling Macération (2024)

- **Producer:** Anna, André & Yann Durrmann
- **Colour:** orange
- **Type:** still
- **Grapes:** Riesling
- **Region:** Alsace, France
- **Style:** Natural
- **Alcohol:** 11.5%
- **Average price:** €25
- **Vegan:** Yes
- **Contains sulphites:** Yes
- **When to drink:** Now or Later
- **Serving temperature:** 10–12 °C
- **Aromas & flavours:** mango, passion fruit, grapefruit, lemon, ginger

## About this wine

Domaine Durrmann is located in Andlau, Bas-Rhin, led by Yann Durrmann alongside his parents, Anna and André. Founded in 1979 on just 1.5 hectares originally owned by André's father, a local shoemaker, the estate has grown to 10 hectares spread across 30 small plots and 9 micro-terroirs. The Durrmanns are dedicated practitioners of holistic agroecology, incorporating agroforestry with fruit trees planted directly in the vineyards and winter sheep grazing. The Krax bottling comes from organic plots on the Col de Crax hill, adjacent to the Grand Cru Wiebelsberg, where pink Vosges sandstone soils define the vineyard site.

## Interesting facts

- The domain practices inter-row agroforestry, growing fruit trees alongside vines while sheep graze during winter.
- The Krax hill feature pink Vosges sandstone soils, which allow skin maceration without extracting harsh tannins.
- Yann Durrmann designed custom immersion grids for stainless steel tanks to gently submerge grape skins.

## Food pairing

Skin-contact orange wines excel with aromatic, spiced, and fermented foods. The wine's structural grip, high natural acidity, and intense aromatic complexity cut through coconut milk, rich poultry fats, and pungent washed-rind cheeses while echoing complex herbal and citrus spices in Asian cuisine.

## Wine making process

Hand-harvested 100% Riesling grapes undergo a 3 to 4-week maceration on skins using whole destemmed fruit. The grapes are gently submerged in stainless steel fermenting tanks fitted with custom immersion grids to achieve delicate extraction. Fermentation occurs 100% spontaneously with indigenous wild yeasts and zero additive interventions. The wine ages in stainless steel tanks before being bottled unfined and unfiltered without any added sulfur dioxide, retaining a natural light effervescence from dissolved fermentation CO2.