ROTT-MURLE is a named site (‘lieu-dit’) in Rouffach, a township (‘commune’) in the Haut-Rhin department in the Alsace region of north-east France.

VINEYARD AREA | 10ha (Tom Stevenson, 1993, p256).

TERROIR | ‘Rot-Murlé or Roth-Muerlé derives its name from the red colour of its iron-rich stony soil. It lies on the summit of a hill just south of Steinert grand cru and is bathed in sun from dawn to dusk allowing the grapes to ripen well in advance of those on the foothills below. However, its exposure on all sides can be a risk,’ says Tom Stevenson (1993, p256, abridged).  Jean-Pierre Frick of Domaine Pierre Frick describes Rot-Mürlé (sic) as having ‘brown-coloured ferruginous calcareous soil over a hard limestone slab, on a rise in the land near the plain.’ Isabelle Legeron (2014) describes it as ‘a limestone parcel that is rich in iron, rot-mürlé meaning “red walled”‘.

WINERIES

CERTIFIED BIODYNAMIC | Domaine Pierre Frick.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Isabelle Legeron MW, Natural Wine, An introduction to organic and biodynamic wines grown naturally (2014, Cico Books, London & New York).

Monty Waldin, Biodynamic Wine (Infinite Ideas, 2016).

Tom Stevenson, The Wines of Alsace, Faber & Faber, 1993.

Tom Stevenson, The Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia 5th Edition (Dorling Kindersley, 2011).