©Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins d'Alsace (CIVA)
Gloeckelberg (also written as Kloeckelberg) is a vineyard of the Alsace Grand Cru appellation, divided between the communes of Rodern and Saint-Hippolyte in northeastern France. Gloeckelberg is located in Alsace's Haut Rhin department, approximately two miles (3km) from the boundary between the Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin sub-regions. The reputation of the wines from these two areas is quite different – Haut-Rhin has by far the greater number of grand crus, and is generally more well regarded.
Spanning 23 hectares (57 acres), Gloeckelberg is perched on hillsides immediately north of Rodern village. The slopes here rise from 1050 to 1180ft (250 to 360m) with south/southeasterly aspects, meaning that the grapes benefit from excellent exposures to the gentle morning sunshine throughout the growing season.
The bedrock beneath Gloeckelberg is composed of dense granite formed more than 570 million years ago. This is covered with coarse soils of sandstone and clay, with larger fragments of sandstone towards the higher end of the slopes. These soil types add to the vineyard's warm, dry mesoclimate, absorbing the heat of the sun (thereby promoting grape ripening) and have little water retention capacity. The high peaks of the Vosges mountains also act to shelter the vines from rain and wind, with annual rainfall averaging 600 to 700mm in Gloeckelberg.
This particular terroir is less well-suited to Riesling, favoring Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer instead. In fact, these two grape varieties comprise 95 percent of the vineyard's output. The best producers in Gloeckelberg include the likes of Koeberle Kreyer and Koehly.
Historical documents referencing the wines of Gloeckelberg date back as far as 1338 and the vineyard was previously owned by the convents of Sainte-Catherine in Colmar and Silo in Sélestat. In 1983, Gloeckelberg became classified as an Alsace Grand Cru vineyard.
