2021 Chapelle 1441

Readers may be familiar with Domaine Trapet from Gevrey-Chambertin in Burgundy. Andrée Trapet, the mother of the current winemakers Pierre and Louis, has Alsatian roots, and when her father died in 2003, she decided that the family should make wines both in Burgundy and Alsace. They now have almost 17 hectares/42 acres of vineyards, including holdings in the Sporen, Schoenenbourg and Schlossberg grand crus. All are farmed biodynamically, and the domaine is certified. Pierre Trapet, who has been working in the Alsace domaine since 2017, now spends 90% of his time in Alsace, and his parents often come to help over the weekends. Trapet says he prefers Alsace to Burgundy – because of gastronomic delights like tarte flambée – but his identification with the culture is so complete that he is one of the very few youngsters to make a point of knowing and speaking the old Alsatian dialect, an Alemannic version of German. To Trapet, Alsace is the fabled land of Cockaigne. His knowledge of local culture and history is as profound as his winemaking is sensitive. “For me, history is the key to winemaking,” Trapet says. “You cannot make wine without knowing the history of the land.” Wines are released the second year after the vintage. At Trapet, the wine style is funky and redolent of the reduction aromas generated by spontaneous fermentation and low-sulfur regimes that initially cloud the varietal character, but it’s still there. This is beauty at second sight. The skin-fermented Ambre range is excellent.