Biodynamic Alsatian wizard Xavier Engel on his alternative approach to fermenting sparkling wine

The most interesting discovery during our time in Alsace was learning about Xavier Engel's unique approach to making sparkling wines. We’ve long celebrated Engel's bubbles for their rich mouthfeel and fine carbonation but weren’t aware that he was doing something completely unusual to accomplish this result.  In this clip Xavier explains his philosophy of growing on “cool” soils in order to harvest at a high enough brix level to have the ability to achieve secondary fermentation with natural grape sugars.