Winegrowers’ Portraits Bennwihr
The House Heim is born in 1765 at Westhalten, a small village of the Haut-Rhin department nestled in the heart of the Community of Municipalities of Vallée Noble. Driven by the same love for their profession and the terroir, Alfred Heim’s successors went in search of new lands. Over the years they settled on the hillsides of Bennwihr and Westhalten. Heim has then become Bestheim, combining the original name with the contraction of the names of the villages where the company vinifies and matures its different cuvees. Bestheim currently farms a patchwork of outstanding terroirs that stretches from the North to the South of Alsace.
The Bestheim vineyards are essentially located on beautiful hillsides facing south and southeast. Leaning on the Vosges, they thus benefit from a natural barrier that protects them against the bad weather coming from the West. This results in a dry and sunny milieu where the recorded rainfall is lower than that of a city like Montpellier!
In this unique microclimate, the seven Alsatian grape varieties bloom: Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, Muscat, Pinot Blanc, Sylvaner and Pinot Noir (the only one to produce red wines in Alsace).Proud of its terroirs, Bestheim is a wine estate where sustainable development is a crucial component. Till the smallest detail, everything is thought and implemented to operate appropriately natural resources and limit the impact of the firm on the environment. This requires selective waste sorting, better insulation of the buildings, but also energy savings or solar water heating system. The result is equal to the efforts since the energy expenses fell by 30% within two years.
In the vineyard, Bestheim lets the nature run its course and corrects smoothly only when necessary. This integrated farming technique daily guarantees a healthy future that preserves the exceptional natural milieu in which we live.
Thus, besides the still wines, Bestheim proposes a range of seven cuvees—from the elegant Brut to the delectable Rosé, not to forget the rare Prestige cuvee. The latter is a high-end Crémant which is the jewel of the production. It stems from a selection of calcareous plots in the Vallée Noble and is exclusively composed of Pinot Blanc. Then it ages in the cellar for at least 30 months to offer an extraordinary aromatic complexity.
To provide its Alsace wines with an ideal complement, Bestheim purchased two chateaus in the Bordeaux vineyard three years ago.
Château Fillon (AOC Bordeaux Supérieur) settled on the wine route between Sauternes and Saint-Emilion, whose vineyard extends at the foot of the hill of Launay which is the highest point of Bordeaux’ vineyard; and Château de Caillavet (AOC Côtes de Bordeaux), where the strength of a feminine presence can be felt upon arrival. Léontine de Caillavet left her mark on the history of the chateau through her passionate romance with Anatole France, Nobel Prize in Literature. Muse of the writer, she inspired two of his works: Thaïs and The Red Lily.
Both domains with character produce aromatic and well-structured Bordeaux wines, full of fruit, material and delight! A real promise …
Bestheim, a multifaceted house, has succeeded in combining the spirit of a great brand with the elegance and personality of its wines, and strives above all to offer its customers products with the best quality/price/pleasure ratio.
Bestheim
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