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05/12/2008

Interactive "Hugel Earth" vineyard map, now in 3D


Hugel Map

 Direct access to the interactive map

The fact that the names of individual vineyards or Grand Cru slopes do not appear on our labels does not signify in any way that we do not recognise the influence of our vineyard terroir on our wines, on the contrary !

Twelve consecutive generations of family experience of the terroirs of Riquewihr has given us irreplaceable knowledge and understanding of its environment. In fact, more than half of our 27 ha estate is situated on terroir that is classified Grand Cru, on a major geological fault zone. In Alsace, we tend to say that our geology is just as complex as our history.

Internet offers such widespread possibilities to share information that we were inspired to put on-line this new interactive map, enlisting the help of top cartographic specialists : IGN for aerial photography and Benoît France for his map of the Alsace vineyards (our very grateful thanks to him). 

This interactive map enables you to locate our estates in Alsace, to understand the geological complexity of the terroirs of Riquewihr, to visualise individual vineyards and grape varieties, and to measure the interface between vines and soils : Riesling in the Schoenenbourg, Gewurztraminer in the Sporen, finally Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir in the Pflostig.

As Serge Dubs explained so well in his book "Les Grands Crus d'Alsace": "The house of Hugel in Riquewihr owns a large part of the Grand Cru Schoenenbourg and Sporen slopes. Renowned for its high quality wines, the house of Hugel has always advocated the best terroir. Its skill is exemplary and its quality image is renowned worldwide. Paradoxically, the « Hugels » do not sell their Grand Cru wines with the appellation AOC Alsace Grand Cru. Yet their Rieslings are among the finest grown on the Schoenenbourg."

You will need Flash 8 player to play this animation. If this is not yet installed on your computer, please click here.

Access the interactive map 

02/04/2008

Hugel Vintage Chart from 2007 to 1959

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Here is the update with all latest vintages.

You can download the full vintage chart in PDF format with all vintages from 1959 to 2007. 

06/25/2007

The Hugel chopstick holders


 

What better launch could there be for a new wine related marketing initiative than Vinexpo ? If success is measured by the number of visitors on one's stand and by the buzz generated we cannot be too far from success as proved above on the short video clip featured on graperadio.com

You will also find here a selection of some of the most memorable moments on our dedicated photo gallery 


At a daily lunchtime Asian buffet on our stand we presented our new  chopstick holder, an original idea created with the help of our supplier of DIAM. The idea came a few months earlier during an informal Chinese lunch in Taiwan in the company of the owner and staff of our new local importer. In the course of lunch Jessie Fang of prominent importer Leading Brands took one of our cork to support her chopsticks on the table. The idea was born and executed with enthusiasm and efficiency by Jessie and her team.


In order to support this innovative initiative, we have asked our local communication agency to design a supporting document which, with our importers help, is now available in high definition PDF in A5 formats in the following languages: English, French, simplified Chinese , Traditional Chinese (Taiwan), Cantonese (Hong Kong)Japanese, Vietnamese, German, Italian  and Dutch. The wide variety of languages now available is a demonstration of the warm reception by most of our importer.


The chopstick holders will start to be available from the end of August on in the following language versions: English/French, English/Chinese and English/Japanese. They will be presented in elegant individual yellow boxes. Each cork will carry the bilingual message "The Chopsticks' favourite wines". We have every hope that this will help the further distribution of our wines in many Asian restaurants, in Asia and elsewhere.

This page will be open to receive the feedback from our importers and clients or just consumers. Blog on !

 

03/20/2007

HUGEL stand at Vinexpo from 17-21 June 2007

Vinexpo stand 

Find here a selection of some of the most memorable moments on our dedicated photo gallery 

We have yet again met most of our trade contacts on our "HUGEL" stand at Vinexpo in Bordeaux from 17-21 June 2007 located in Hall 1 D 217, near door 22.

Etienne Hugel and David Ling were in attendance together with their colleagues Mathieu Chalas, Lionel Rousseaux and Didier Thaler for the entire duration of the fair.

The Orient had the place of honour on our stand this year with visuals that was an invitation to bring our visitors on a journey to Asia. At a daily lunchtime buffet we presented our chopstick holder, an original idea created with the help of our supplier of DIAM corks and of our Taiwanese importer.

Proof of the ever closer ties with other members of
Primum Familiae Vini, this year we were again direct neighbours of our frieds of Pol Roger, Torres, Perrin and Symington.

You can download here the full map of Vinexpo's Hall 1. For more details on Vinexpo, visit their website.

Vinexpo is certainly the most important of its kind and is for members of the trade only.

02/22/2007

Let our wines take you on a journey to Asia

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It is a fact, " world food " and " fusion cuisine " become more and more part of our eating habits and seduce more and more gastronomes the world over. For too long, Asian cuisine was associated with the drinking of jasmine tea or beer and has had little success attracting fine wines consumers. Things are changing at a very rapid pace.
If many food critics mention Alsace wines amongst the best to match with oriental cuisine, we put forward to you the opinion of some of the most knowledgeable and unbiased of them : Dr N.K. YONG and his wife Melina . Their experience and authority go beyond their native Singapore and even Asia. Dr N.K. YONG is for instance the former world-wide president of the influential and respected
International Wine & Food Society ... and by the way, a great supporter of our wines.
Yes, our wines are the chopsticks' favourites !

More "Let our wines take you on a journey to Asia" »

09/23/2006

At last, corks without the risk of cork taint

DIAMAfter seven years of intensive internal research for alternative methods of closure, we have decided to use "DIAM" corks of the brand Oeneo-Bouchage for an important part of our Classic range of wines of the 2006 vintage and for the whole of the 2007's. This decision comes after the successful test we carried out with this closure on 375ml size bottles in the year 2004 and on a fraction of wines of the 2005 vintage.

We have always observed – and this phenomenon is widely known in our profession as one of our main quality issue – that a fraction of the wines sealed with natural cork suffer from what is generally called "cork taint". In fact, this phenomenon seems to have become more marked in recent years, and so in 1998 we began to seriously investigate ways of overcoming the problem.

We studied and experimented with every different type of "cork" that existed on the market (agglomerated, treated, synthetic, 1 + 1 (composite), and screw-caps. For technical questions, the screw-caps is not suited to our way of working because all our wines are palletized or stored on bins, bottles unlabelled, before their labelling at times of shipping. The binning of bottles with these screw-caps closures poses potential problems of leaking on such bottles.

After countless tests conducted with great rigour by Marc Hugel as well as a recent 4 days visit of their premisses in Spain we have finally selected DIAM, manufactured by Oeneo-Bouchage.

More "At last, corks without the risk of cork taint" »

07/22/2006

The story of the yellow label

Maggi In 1918, when Alsace was restored to France, its winegrowers were faced with profound economic changes, and had to re-think the way in which their wines were labelled.

At that time, Jean HUGEL (1898-1980) - father and grandfather of the current generations - spent some time training with the MAGGI™ Company, whose then Director was Jules ZOLL, a friend of the family.

That famous Swiss company had then just completed one of the very first market research surveys, concerning the presentation of its products. YELLOW, RED and GOLD were discovered to be the most evocative colours, and were therefore adopted.

More "The story of the yellow label" »

01/26/2006

Les Grands Crus d'Alsace: a book by Serge Dubs

Book Serge DubsWe are pleased to announce the recent publication of a book that is particularly important for the Alsace wine region, written by our friend Serge Dubs, in association with the journalist Denis Ritzenthaler.

After almost three years of serious research, Serge has successfully achieved his goal, the first in-depth handbook of the Grand Cru wines of Alsace. Without indulgence, it displays all the characteristic rigour, integrity and passion of one of the greatest connoisseurs and… supporters of Alsace wines. This work of reference will make its mark on our region and some of its comments will undoubtedly revive the dormant debate about Grand Cru wines, for example the following paragraph :

The house of Hugel in Riquewihr is certainly one of the most representative of Alsace negociants. It owns a large part of the Grand Cru Schoenenbourg and Sporen slopes. Renowned for its high quality wines, the house of Hugel has always advocated the best terroir. Its skill is exemplary and its quality image is renowned worldwide. Paradoxically, the « Hugels » do not sell their Grand Cru wines with the appellation AOC Alsace Grand Cru. Yet their Rieslings are among the finest grown on the Schoenenbourg. The house of Hugel has chosen a policy of promoting its brand because it believes the reputation of the name « Hugel » is superior to that of Grand Cru. This is their way of controlling the quality of the wines from its Grand Cru vineyards. Thus exceptional wines can be found under the simple appellation of AOC Alsace.

To learn more on the subject, discover our interactive "Hugel Earth" vineyard map

More "Les Grands Crus d'Alsace: a book by Serge Dubs" »

10/10/2005

The backgound behind the tradition of GENTIL

etiqettte_gentil.jpgDecades ago, some of the finest Alsace wines were called GENTIL ("blend of nobles grapes"). When such a wine was made from grapes grown in just one famous vineyard, the vineyard name was added, as was the case with our SPOREN "HUGEL" , now called "S" HUGEL.

The first vintage, 1992, was successfully introduced in certain test markets. Subsequent vintages have continued this trend in many other countries, including USA, Canada, Sweden, Australia and even Malaysia and Hong Kong.

GENTIL "HUGEL" is based on the refreshing Sylvaner grape, in order to reach an affordable price, with over 50% of the 4 "noble" grapes varieties : Tokay Pinot Gris for body, Riesling for finesse, Gewurztraminer for richness and spice, and Muscat for fruit.

The grapes for GENTIL "HUGEL" are all selected and vinified in our cellars and subject to exactly the same strict standards of quality that characterise all the wines we produce.

We are certain that even the most demanding of palates will appreciate this wine with the "HUGEL" signature, an agreeable wine at a reasonable price.

More "The backgound behind the tradition of GENTIL" »


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