Domaine Rolly Gassmann, based in the Alsace village of Rorschwihr, is famed for their remarkable collection of older vintages, producing about 300,000 bottles a year but storing and ageing over two million.


“There has always been a tradition of ageing wines in our village,” says owner and winemaker Pierre Gassmann “The limestone soils produce wines that are more backward, and need time before they are released, so we age the wines to ensure they show at their best when they are being sold.”


The Rolly and Gassmann families have made wine in Alsace since the 17th century. Domaine Rolly Gassmann was established in 1967 when the two families were joined by marriage, bringing together 50 hectares of vineyards across the villages of Rorschwihr (40 hectares) and Bergheim (10 hectares). Pierre is now the second generation of his family to make wine at the domaine.


In 2019,Rolly Gassmann’s requirement for ageing led Pierre to build an impressive new winery in the village of Rorschwihr. Nicknamed ‘the cathedral’ by Alsace locals, this six-tier, state-of-the-art construction, built into the hillside, has brought the domaine’s gravity-fed vinification facilities, cellar and panoramic tasting room under one roof. Rorschwihr lies on a fault line, which created over 20 variations of limestone in its soils. As a result, the village has no Grand Crus. Instead, it is divided into multiple lieux-dits to reflect this range of soil complexity, including ‘Kappelweg’, ‘Oberer Weingarten’, ‘Silberberg de Rorschwihr’ and ‘Brandhurst de Bergheim’.


Though uncertified, Domaine Rolly Gassmann farm their vineyards using organic and biodynamic principles. They encourage noble rot in their grapes and harvest late to achieve optimal sugar ripeness and a concentrated fruit expression. “We usually start picking when other producers are picking their vendange tardive wines!” says Pierre. Their vineyards are divided into roughly 70 plots, all hand-harvested and vinified separately.

The grapes for this wine come from parcels planted on clay, marl and limestone soils in the commune of Rorschwihr. All 21 different types of limestone known in the world can be found in the soils of this village, and the sub-soil there is similarly diverse. These soils, and the particular climate of the sites were discovered by the monks who first made wine here over 400 years ago, and today some of their methods are still used; vineyard activity is carried out based on the position of the moon and stars, with grape maturity and picking determined by the ripeness of the pips, as well as the skins. Organic and biodynamic practices are used to manage the vineyards, although they are not certified.

Traditional vinification, with 10 to 12 hours gentle pressing before fermentation using wild yeasts. For this wine, fermentation lasted for five months before spending around two months on lees up until the April following the harvest. It was then aged until bottling the next autumn.

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