Pinot Gris Réserve, Joseph Cattin 2023

The Cattin family have a long history in the Alsace, dating back to 1720 when Swiss émigré Joseph Cattin arrived intending to make a living as a builder. He soon began to tend vines and make wine and through the centuries his descendants have carried on doing just the same.

Today Jacques Cattin Jr runs the business together with his wife Anaïs with Jacques Sr never far away, continuing a tradition of son working with father that has characterised the history of this fine producer, building on their heritage and experience but never letting the grass grow beneath their feet.

They oversee two wineries, one a facility built in Steinbach in 2007 specifically for the making of sparkling wines, and the other at Voegtlinshoffen some 10km south of Colmar. Though Voegtlinshoffen has been home to the Cattins for centuries, as some of the ancient barrels attest, there has been much development here, including the building of an impressive new cellar in 2017, with a tasting room, seminar facilities, and wine bar.

The family owns 60 hectares of vines around Voegtlinshoffen, Steinbach and Colmar, including holdings in the grand cru Hatschbourg vineyard (planted with riesling, muscat, pinot gris and gewurztraminer) and a large walled vineyard of more than 8.5 hectares. This latter site, the Clos Madelon, was created from scratch by the family in 2000 and planted only with pinot gris on land that was once a vineyard but which was devastated during the fighting of the First World War.

This forward thinking company makes every style of Alsace, from blends like the delicious Edelzwicker (a traditional name for wines made from a blend of noble white grape varieties) to sparkling Crémant, vendange tardive and Sélection de Grains Nobles wines, all with notable success.