OUR HISTORY
The origins of the domain begin with 2 families cultivating the vines since the 17th century, the Laugners in the village of Dieffenthal, and the Allimants in Saint-Hippolyte.
In 1816 and after participating in all Napoléon’s campaigns, captain François-Antoine Allimant buys more vines on the Haut-Koenigsbourg hills and a structure from 1664 in the village of Orschwiller, the current property of the domain.
As most of the families, the Allimants still lived from polyculture and chose to focus more on wine with Charles Allimant who started to bottle his wine in 1949 and developed their distribution with his daughter Mariette and her husband René Laugner.
Their eldest son Hubert took over in 1984, gave the domain the actual name and brought a lot of dynamism with his wife Françoise, and since 2013 with their son Nicolas. The family shares with pleasure this beautiful heritage of over 10 generations.
OUR VINEYARD
The 7 varieties from Alsace are grown on our 12 hectares of vines, which represents 40 separated parcels with different orientations, ages and terroirs.
This division of parcels is essential to get the right expression of the varieties on the right soils. South of the village, between Orschwiller and Saint-Hippolyte, the heavy clay and limestone soils are particularly appropriate to the Pinots. North of the village up to Châtenois, granitic soils are prevailing et allow to produce more aromatic Riesling and Gewurztraminer.
Above Orschwiller, the granitic and gneissic hills of the Praelatenberg are cultivated into vines since the 9th century. This terroir allows the production of precise and very typical wines, that is naturally classified as Grand Cru d’Alsace.
Our parcels have a density of over 5500 vines per hectare, favoring competition and deeper rooting, for a better typicity.
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OUR WINES
The familial orientation has always been to produce fresh and well-balanced wines. As an aperitive, with daily dishes or the most wonderful gastronomic pairings, our objective is that every bottle provides pleasures and shared moments of friendliness.
The foundations of our cuvees are the 7 typical alsatian varieties, originated from all Europe and the actual witnesses of this extraordinary history and heritage.
This traditional range is completed with a blend, the Gentil, and exceptional cuvees by the terroir with the Grand Cru Praelatenberg, or by the vintage with the late harvests.
The demand of sparkling wine is also booming in the region and our Crémants Blanc and Rosé, produced in the traditional method with our local varieties, represent half of our production and became our spearhead on our international awareness.
OUR VALUES
We are grateful of the privilege we have to create a product from the ground and naturally cultivated our vines with the biggest respect of our environment. By choice, most of tasks are essentially done by hand (pricking, staking…) because it is by having the closest contact with our vines that we can understand them and optimize their needs. In order to control well the vigor of the vines and preserve our ecosystem, we principally work with alternating plowed and grassed rows.
In the cellar as well, modernity and tradition need to balance well to produce precise and fine wines, yet with minimum human footprint and ecological imprint. We work with a brand new pneumatic press and stainless steel tanks with control of temperature that allow to make fermentation only in natural yeasts. All steps are checked controlled to have negligible inputs and to produce typical cuvees with authentic aromas.
TWO GENERATIONS WORKING HAND IN HAND
Hubert
Hubert is the eldest son of Mariette Laugner born Allimant. He took over the estate in 1984 and gave it new impetus. He is very invested in the vineyard and in the winemaking process.
Françoise
Françoise left her native region (the Loire) to come and settle in Alsace alongside Hubert and develop the domain. She manages the tasting cellar.
Nicolas
Nicolas is the eldest son of Hubert and Françoise. He joined the domain in 2013 after his studies and today he is more specifically in charge of the cellar, production and marketing.
Sandy
Married to Nicolas, Sandy joined the estate in 2022. She takes care of the website, communication, administration and gites.
Géraldine & Patrice
For more than 20 years, our tractor driver Patrice and his wife Géraldine have provided us with valuable help in working the vines.