Maison Trimbach

One parcel explains the reputation. Clos Sainte Hune is a 1.67-hectare plot inside the Grand Cru Rosacker at Hunawihr that has belonged to the Trimbach family for more than two hundred years, planted with vines over fifty years old on a subsoil dominated by Muschelkalk shelly limestone. Average annual production is around 7,000 bottles, and the house states the wine reaches its peak only eight to ten years after bottling.

Expect a working cellar rather than a visitor centre. Tasting is by appointment at the caveau on weekdays only, and the house publishes no tasting fee, no shop hours and no guided-tour product on its site. What it does publish in detail is the farming: 70% of the vineyard is estate-owned, and the whole 65 hectares plus purchases from 35 partner growers were certified organic in 2023.

Avoid August. The house and its tasting cellar are closed from 31 July to 23 August 2026 inclusive, and the site's standing notice also closes them on Sundays, on public holidays and between Christmas and New Year. That leaves weekday mornings and early afternoons through spring, early summer and autumn — and the appointment is required in every one of those windows.

Book before you drive. The tasting cellar opens Monday to Friday, 08:00–11:45 and 14:00–17:15, by appointment only, and is closed on Sundays and public holidays. The house publishes no tasting price anywhere on its site, so agree the terms when you arrange the appointment. The address is 15 route de Bergheim, 68150 Ribeauvillé; the site gives no parking or transit guidance beyond that.

Ribeauvillé sits on the Alsace wine road below the Vosges, and the house is at 15 route de Bergheim on the edge of the town. The estate's own vineyard villages — Ribeauvillé, Bergheim and Hunawihr — lie within a few kilometres of each other, so the drive between the Frédéric Emile slopes and Clos Sainte Hune is short. Arrive by car; no public-transport route is published.

Maison Trimbach is a family wine house at Ribeauvillé in Alsace, founded in 1626 when Jean Trimbach was received as a burgher of Riquewihr and became a winegrower there. The house works 65 hectares of vineyard, 60 of them owned, concentrated in the villages of Ribeauvillé, Bergheim and Hunawihr. Riesling accounts for half its production.

The house has moved twice since its founding, and the addresses matter. Jean Trimbach arrived from Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines in 1626 and was received as a burgher of Riquewihr, where he became a winegrower. The domaine moved to Hunawihr in 1840, the years in which Frédéric Emile Trimbach took over its direction. In 1920 the house settled at Ribeauvillé, where it remains today.

Two grand cru terroirs above Ribeauvillé carry the house's most-cited wine: Geisberg and Osterberg, both facing south and south-east, overlook the domaine and give rise to the Riesling Frédéric Emile. Clos Sainte Hune, at Hunawihr, sits on a different formation — Muschelkalk limestone, also called shelly limestone. The owned vineyard concentrates on three villages: Ribeauvillé, Bergheim and Hunawihr.

The organic conversion started where the stakes were highest. The house began organic viticulture in 2008 in Clos Sainte Hune itself — the 1.67-hectare parcel at Hunawihr — before extending it. Certification of the entire 65-hectare vineyard, together with grape purchases from 35 partner growers, followed in 2023. Most estates trial new farming on their least valuable blocks; this one started on the jewel.