New Gen

I was really pleased to meet Jean-Marc Jost, who, along with his wife Celine, and one full-time employee, manages a domain of 16ha of wines, about 20km west of Strasbourg.

He is one of the new gen vintners -- a viticulteur manipulant), which means he grows the grapes, manages them, harvests them into his own wine cave, 'vinifies' the grapes, and bottles the wines. He is pictured here in a revamped wine cave, with aluminum barrels that looked quite futuristic, but according to him, are so much more efficient and ensure better consistency. When I came by, he was in the process of 'clarifying' the wine, ahead of bottling.

He, too, is one of the growers that do only 'organic' vineyards but he prefers to refer to that process as "traditional cultivation, done in a reasoned manner to respect the environment and obtain fine and expressive wines." I think I like that too :)