Dirler-Cade

Dirler-Cadé is a family-run winery in Alsace that uses Biodynamic practices to produce sophisticated reds, whites, and rosés from an array of Alsatian Grand Crus and storied lieux-dits. More than a century before natural winemaking was en vogue, Jean Dirler founded his winemaking endeavor on the motto “natural wines, fine wines.” In 1871, he settled in the village of Bergholtz—a town of just around 1,000 people—where he started a “gourmet” called Vins Dirler. Five subsequent generations have honored his motto as they’ve tended Alsace’s finest vineyards—but perhaps none more than the current winemaker, also named Jean Dirler. Inspired by a course he took with Biodynamics advocate and winemaking consultant François Bouchet, Jean began applying what he’d learned to the family’s estate in 1998. That same year, he married Ludivine Hell-Cadé, the daughter of two Guebwiller-based winemakers. The two winemaking families merged in 2000, forming Dirler-Cadé. Their collective holdings total 18 hectares, 42% of which reside in the Saering, Spiegel, Kessler, and Kitterlé Grand Crus. They also have plantings in the Belzbrunnen, Schwarzberg, Bux, Schimberg, and Bollenberg lieux-dits. The sites contain Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc, Auxerrois, Muscat, Sylvaner, Riesling, Pinot Gris, and Gewurztraminer, and the family farms these vines with fastidious care. They use natural cover crops, herbal teas, and other b practices to cultivate a thriving, biodiverse ecosystem. In the winery, they use slow whole-cluster presses, spontaneous fermentations, and prolonged maturation on the lees to produce expressive, complex wines.