Natural Muscat and Gewürztraminer
Orange wine
Alsace, France
While Alsace is legendary for its noble white varieties, 'Vairon' represents a modern evolution for the historic Dirler-Cadé estate. This is their inaugural skin-contact (orange) wine, named after the term for eyes of different colors—a nod to the transformation of white grapes into a deep amber expression. The label itself is a tribute to Ludivine Dirler’s distinctive eye pupil.
The fruit is sourced from 25-year-old vines across a mosaic of Grand Cru sites (Saering, Kessler, and Spiegel), where the fruit benefits from diverse soils of limestone, sandstone, and clay. This 2021 vintage is a co-fermented blend of Muscat d'Alsace, Muscat Ottonel, and Gewürztraminer.
The grapes were fully destemmed and underwent a 15-day maceration on skins, extracting a solid tannic structure and a savory aromatic profile. Fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged in stainless steel, the wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered with no added sulphites (SO2 < 10 mg/L) and a bone-dry finish.
The wine shows high-toned aromatics of rose, eucalyptus, and menthol. On the palate, it is lively and textural, with flavors of fresh grapes and a beautiful, sapid length. We recommend decanting for 20 minutes before serving at 10–12°C to allow the tannins to soften and the aromatics to fully unfurl.
