Meetings with producers can be the fruit of stories that don’t start directly from the wine: we met his son Antoine, a political science student in Paris, in Barolo during the Vini corsari and he came to do an internship the following year in Lisbon at Goliardos. From the first months of his life, Antoine was immersed in a wine environment on both sides of the family: with his father Vincent perpetuating the Sipp family’s winemaking tradition and his maternal uncle Jean Boxler bringing world renown to the hills of the grand cru Sommerberg. All this humanist-cultural journey following the sources of wine led us to visit Vincent Sipp and the Agapé domaine in 2019 to discover the mosaic of Alsatian terroirs. Vincent began his winemaking career on the family farm from 1993 to 2007, when he wanted to take a more personal path and acquired the Agapé domaine, which had less than 1 ha, to which he gradually added some family vines and others he had acquired, in particular recovering his great-grandfather’s grand cru Rosacker in 2003, a plot that has a very sentimental value for him. Today he cultivates 12 hectares of vines spread over 25 plots in the historic heart of Alsace wine-growing between Riquewihr and Ribeauvillé with 3 grand cru vineyards: Schoenenbourg (early and powerful terroir exposed to the south), Osterberg (fresh terroir exposed to the east) and Rosacker (limestone and exposed to the south). The soils are dominantly limestone with some nuances: deeper clay in the Schoenenbourg, a specific limestone called Muschelkalk in the Rosacker, while the Osterberg has a limestone marl soil. In 2018 he began the process of converting the estate to organic farming.
White wines:
Fusion : A classic Alsatian blended wine to drink as a starter with vines planted in the 1980s-1990s of Pinot gris (50 per cent), Riesling (35 per cent) and Gewurztraminer (15 per cent) providing the creamy texture of Pinot gris, the sharp intensity of Riesling and the aromatic component of Gewurztraminer. It is aged on the lees until the following spring and bottled early.
Sylvaner Expression Vieilles Vignes : Sylvaner vines planted in the 1960s in the Osterberg grand cru, which resisted the temptation to replace this variety with Pinot gris. The cool climate of the cru allows for slow ripening which favours the finesse of the variety’s expression in a qualitative terroir.
Pinot blanc Expression : Vines planted at the end of the 1990s on clay-limestone plots in the villages of Riquewihr and Ribeauvillé, with a slow maturation that gives the wine finesse. It is aged on the lees until the following spring.
Riesling Limestone : Old vineyard plot in Jungholz, 25% macerated for 4 days, the rest in direct press. Ageing in vats on the lias for 18 months.
Riesling Grand Cru Rosacker : Vineyards planted at the end of the 1970s in the place called Heitzberg at 340 metres above sea level, direct press and ageing in vats on the slopes for 18 months.
Riesling Grand Cru Schoenenbourg : Vines planted at the end of the 1980s, at 260 metres above sea level in a sunny climate with deep clays, direct pressing and ageing in vats for 24 months on the slopes.
