Hugel & Fils is a

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the cultivation and production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feat ...

Riquewihr Riquewihr (; Alsatian: ; ) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. A popular tourist attraction for its historical architecture, Riquewihr is also known for the Riesling and other wines produced in the ...

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Hugel & Fils is one of the major producers of

Alsace wine Alsace wine or Alsatian wine (; ; ; ) is produced in the Alsace region in France and is primarily white wine. Because of its History of Alsace, Germanic influence, it is the only ''Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' region in France to produce ...

, and has been an important force in the Alsace wine industry in its developments during the second half of the 20th century. Hugel & Fils produces its high-end wines from its own vineyards, and also operates a

négociant A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to de ...

business, which sources additional grapes under long-term contract from various growers. Hugel is highly export-oriented, with almost 80 percent of the wines produced being exported. The Hugel family are members of the

Primum Familiae Vini Primum Familiae Vini (often abbreviated PFV, Latin: "First Families of Wine") is an association of family-owned winery, wineries with a membership limited to twelve families. History The association was established in 1993 by Miguel A. Torres, Mi ...

History

The company was founded in Riquewihr in 1639 by Hans Ulrich Hugel, who was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

national who left his home country during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

. It has remained in the hands of the Hugel family since then. As a logotype, they use a family crest which was carved in 1672, to decorate the doorway of a house built in Riquewihr by one of Hans Ulrich's sons In 1902, Hugel & Fils, which was then managed by Frédéric Emile Hugel, moved to its present location in the centre of Riquewihr. In the second half of the 20th century,

Jean Hugel Jean "Johnny" Frederic Hugel ( September 28, 1924 - June 9, 2009) was an Alsatian wine producer, described by wine expert Tom Stevenson as ''"the single most important person in the development of Alsace wine industry throughout the 20th century." ...

played a leading role in Hugel & Fils as well as in the Alsace wine industry in general. Jean Hugel and Hugel & Fils pioneered the reintroduction of

late harvest wine Late harvest wine is wine made from grapes left on the vine longer than usual. ''Late harvest'' is usually an indication of a sweet dessert wine, such as late harvest Riesling. Late harvest grapes are often more similar to raisins, but have been ...

s in Alsace. The 1984 wine regulations setting down the requirements for

Vendange Tardive Vendange tardive ("VT") means "''late harvest''" in French. The phrase refers to a style of dessert wine where the grapes are allowed to hang on the vine until they start to dehydrate. This process, called passerillage, concentrates the sugars ...

and

Sélection de Grains Nobles Sélection de Grains Nobles (SGN) is French for "selection of noble berries" and refers to wines made from grapes affected by noble rot. SGN wines are sweet dessert wines with rich, concentrated flavours. Alsace wines were the first to be described ...

wines is usually referred to as "Hugel's Law". Wines in this style were also produced by Hugel before these designations had been invented, and some earlier versions were marketed using designations from the

German wine classification The German wine classification system puts a strong emphasis on standardization and factual completeness, and was first implemented by the German Wine Law of 1971. Nearly all of Germany's vineyards are delineated and registered as one of approxi ...

, such as

Beerenauslese ''Beerenauslese'' () is a German language wine term for a late harvest wine with noble rot. Beerenauslese is a category in the '' Prädikatswein'' category of the Austrian and German wine classifications, and is a category above Auslese. Beere ...

Vineyard holdings

Hugel & Fils hold slightly over , all located around Riquewihr and almost half in vineyards allowed the

Alsace Grand Cru Alsace Grand Cru () is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée for wines made in specific parcels of the Alsace wine region of France. The Grand Cru AOC was recognized in 1975 by the Institut National des Appellations d'Origine, INAO with subsequent ...

designation. In addition, grapes from over of Alsace vineyards are bought in for the négociant business. For the top wines,

Riesling Riesling ( , ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling ...

is grown in the Schoenenbourg vineyard,

Gewürztraminer Gewürztraminer () is an aromatic wine grape variety, used in white wines, and which performs best in cooler climates. In English, it is sometimes referred to colloquially as Gewürz ( ; although this is never the case in German, because mean ...

in Sporen, and

Pinot gris Pinot gris, pinot grigio (, ), or ''Grauburgunder'' is a white wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. Thought to be a mutant clone of the pinot noir variety, it normally has a pinkish-gray hue, accounting for its name, but th ...

and

Pinot noir Pinot noir (), also known as Pinot nero, is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name also refers to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words fo ...

in Pflostig.

Wines

Hugel & Fils does not use the

designation for any of their wines, although most of their top wines come from Grand Cru vineyards. Instead, Hugel uses its own quality designations. Although Hugel was a pioneer in sweet Alsace wines, only wines clearly marked as late harvest wines or special cuvées have noticeable residual sugar; the wines of the regular range are always dry. For wines at the Tradition level and above, Hugel typically releases the wines when they are judged to be ready for sale. Thus, at a given time, different vintages may be in distribution for wines of different grape varieties, and the sweet wines are often sold with several years of bottle age. Four Hugel bottle labels

Hugel's range of wines consist of the following levels: *Dry wines **Hugel Classic - basic level wines produced from bought grapes. Includes most Alsace varieties and some blends. **Hugel Tradition - intermediate level wines, from the four "noble" white grapes. **Hugel Jubilée - top level dry wines from Hugel's own vineyards.Hugel & Fils: The Wines - Hugel Jubilee
accessed on June 10, 2009 *Wines with residual sugar **Hommage Jean Hugel - semi-sweet wines with less concentration and sweetness than the Vendange Tardive range. This range was introduced with the 1997 vintage to commemorate the companies 50th vintage under Jean Hugel. This level has been used sparingly. **

- late harvest wines.Hugel & Fils: The Wines - Vendange Tardive and Sélection de Grains Nobles
accessed on June 10, 2009 **

- wines from botrytised grapes.

References

External links

*
Hugel profiled by The Wine Doctor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hugel and Fils Wineries of France Alsace wine 1639 establishments in France Henokiens companies Primum Familiae Vini