Celebrating 100 Years of ‘The Most Wanted Riesling in the World’

There are few vineyards in the world like Clos Sainte Hune. Equal parts venerated Grand Cru terroir and fairytale mystique, this tiny pocket of vines creates rare, unequaled expressions of riesling.

Just those three words on a bottle label, coupled with the Trimbach name, launch critics into superlative mode. Private collectors and buyers for Michelin-star restaurants eagerly queue up for a share. (Clos Sainte Hune is only made in the very best vintages and even then, production is strictly limited to roughly 7,000 bottles annually.)

A Wine of (Very Special) Place

Folded in the foothills of the Vosges Mountains in northern Alsace, Clos Sainte Hune is a 1.67-hectare / 4.13-acre parcel of vines in the very heart of the Rosacker Grand Cru, located in the village of Hunawihr, just a few minutes’ drive from Trimbach’s home base of Ribeauvillé.

The vineyard has been in the family for over 200 years, but it wasn’t until 1919 that Frédéric Theodore Trimbach released the first eponymous label, rightly confident in the extraordinary qualities Clos Sainte Hune was capable of conferring onto the wines it produced.

Sheltered from damaging wind gusts and heavy rain by the Vosges, the site enjoys an idyllic terroir: south-southeast exposure to the sun at gently sloping elevations ranging from 260-330 meters / 853-1,083 feet. The soil composition is stony argilo-calcaire limestone — known to soil buffs as Muschelkalk. Literally meaning “shell-bearing limestone” due to the fossilized seashells it contains, this unique, mineral-rich soil allows riesling to develop a very specific aroma profile with intense concentration of fruit character; there is also a lovely, ripe tartaric acidity and a kind of crystalline minerality that weaves its way through the palate, drawing out to incredible lengths on the finish. This is, in short, no ordinary riesling.

The vines themselves are old. But no one’s quite sure how old, exactly. Estimates range between 50 to 70 years, but no official record exists of when the now-gnarled trunks were originally put into the ground, adding a touch of intrigue.

The Trimbachs are, at their core, highly attuned farmers who pride stewardship of their land above all else. They’ve been farming using sustainable and organic methods for decades and received official organic certification across the whole of their vineyards in 2023 — an initiative that began in 2008 with Clos Sainte Hune.

But despite the site’s age and all the painstaking rigor that goes into their viticultural practices, the family says Clos Sainte Hune isn’t quite as demanding as their other Grand Cru sites.

“Clos Sainte Hune, and all Grand Cru Rosacker, is not what we would qualify as an extreme terroir like Grand Cru Geisberg,” explains 13th-generation Anne Trimbach, who heads up the winery’s trade, export, and digital marketing. “The slopes are not steep, the water reserves are good, the very old vines suffer less … they react less rapidly, they take more time to adjust. Younger vines [in the other Grands Crus] react more quickly and stress more rapidly. Grand Cru Geisberg is steeper with less water reserves. And the average age of the vines, around 40 years, makes a little difference in comparison to Clos Sainte Hune.”

While it may not qualify as extreme viticulture, Clos Sainte Hune’s vines do require a precise hand. And for that, the Trimbachs trust just one man.

For the last 25-plus years, Laurent Murschel has been the only person allowed to prune these enigmatic vines.

“Laurent has been with us for what seems like always,” says Anne. “He has been pruning Clos Sainte Hune, on Saturdays, alone. He knows the plot and each vine by heart.”

Laurent, a native son of Ribeauvillé, has long been a trusted part of the Trimbach team as chef de culture in the vineyards. So, when he fell in love with Anne Catherine — winemaker Pierre Trimbach’s right arm in the cellar — it felt like a natural next step for this extended part of the family. The couple now have a son, Emile, who is named after Trimbach family icon and Alsace wine visionary, Frédéric Emile Trimbach.

The Legend of Sainte Hune

Clos Sainte Hune’s magic extends beyond its extraordinary terroir, and even beyond the Trimbachs themselves, to the early Middle Ages and another very special namesake.

Huna, a noblewoman whose family owned the village where Clos Sainte Hune is located, lived sometime around the middle 600s. Despite her elevated status, she devoted her life to caring for the less fortunate, notably taking on the role of laundress for the village’s infirm and washing their clothing in the local fountain. Today, like the vineyard, the village of Hunawihr bears her name.

Huna was canonized by Pope Leo X in the 16th century and is considered the patron saint of domesticity. It is also said she could turn the water in the village fountain to wine, heralding the arrival of only the very best vintages …

“The Greatest Clos Sainte Hune Ever?”

If Huna had been alive in 2019, she may have been very busy at that fountain.

It was a hot, dry year with cold nights and just enough rain in August, allowing the grapes to strike a stunning balance between lush richness and electric freshness. It is also an exciting moment on the Trimbach family timeline — it was Julien Trimbach’s very first vintage making wine. (Julien has been preparing to take up the reins from his uncle, current winemaker Pierre Trimbach, who just celebrated his 45th vintage in 2024).

When critic James Suckling tasted the centennial release of Clos Sainte Hune in July 2021, he wasn’t mincing words before scoring it a perfect 100 points:

“The greatest Clos Ste. Hune ever? The beauty and elegance of this very youthful Alsace dry riesling masterpiece are literally breathtaking. Very subtle white-peach character, great concentration, and such finesse at the extremely long, precise finish.”

Similarly, Vinous’s Anne Krebiehl MW, scored the 2019 98 points (“The finish is like a cooling, intense, ethereal balm.”) and The Wine Advocate, 94 points (“Powerful, intense and enormously complex on the palate, this is a concentrated, tightly knit yet also juicy and sustainably salty Riesling icon with grainy tannins. Very promising.”).

“This is still very much a young wine, but it is already destined for greatness,” says Polina Burns CSW, senior brand manager for Palm Bay International. “Like all Clos Sainte Hune wines, the 2019 has decades ahead of it. This is definitely something collectors are going to want to have in their cellars.”

Vintages aside, Clos Sainte Hune is a regular on “Top” lists, with a sphere of influence somewhere up in the stratosphere of winedom. Not only is it the No. 1 riesling on top of one-, two-, and three-star Michelin restaurants (Somm.ai 10/18/2023​), but it was also named “The Most Wanted Riesling in the World” by wine-searcher.com in March 2023.

The Trimbach family (and fine riesling lovers everywhere) have been eagerly awaiting the release of Clos Sainte Hune 2019 — and they’ve executed the launch of this icon brilliantly.

“We chose to return to the original label, which was even more refined and elegant,” says Anne. “We added red branding, as we had already done for Clos Sainte Hune 1989 Vendanges Tardives, Vendanges Tardives Hors Choix, and Clos Sainte Hune 1983 Vendanges Tardives.”

Kicking off in early November 2024, the family has held various celebrations at their estate, holding vertical tastings (their library of back vintages dates to 1979) as well as elegant pairing dinners for eager media and members of the trade. They also commissioned a limited, 100-piece run of custom Riedel crystal decanters, the production of which was overseen by Max Riedel himself.

As the celebrations carry on into 2025, Palm Bay International is absolutely thrilled to be bringing Clos Sainte Hune 2019 to the U.S. market, with limited cases estimated to arrive just after the new year. Read more on Trimbach here and, to find all their wines near you, our Where to Buy locater is a great place to start.