The wine labeled simply Vincent is the work of biodynamic grower Vincent Gross, working through the framework of Les Vins Pirouettes, the Alsatian natural wine collective founded by Christian Binner. Pirouettes was built on a simple premise: that Alsace has exceptional organic and biodynamic growers who deserve the infrastructure, expertise, and market access to bottle and sell their own wines rather than selling their fruit to cooperatives. Vincent Gross, farming near Gueberschwihr in the Haut-Rhin, is one of those growers.
The Eros Cuvees
The signature wine is Eros de Vincent, a skin-contact blend of Alsatian white varieties including Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, Auxerrois, Riesling, and Sylvaner, sourced from Gross's vineyards on limestone, clay, and sandstone soils. Hand-harvested grapes undergo 14 days of skin maceration with native yeasts in stainless steel tanks before aging for six months in traditional Alsatian foudres. The wine is bottled unfined, unfiltered, and without added sulfur. Production is typically under 1,000 cases.
Christian Binner's Expertise
What makes Les Vins Pirouettes work is Christian Binner's twenty years of experience making natural wine in Alsace, combined with his willingness to share that expertise with younger and emerging growers. Each Pirouettes cuvee is made at the grower's own winery, using the grower's own fruit, with Binner supplying technical guidance and distribution access. The result is a series of wines that are simultaneously personal, reflecting the specific grower and their specific site, and reliably honest in their approach.
Alsace Through Skin Contact
Eros de Vincent demonstrates what Alsace's aromatic white varieties can do when given extended skin contact: the Gewurztraminer's lychee and rose petal soften and deepen, the Riesling's acidity holds the structure in place, and the Auxerrois adds body without heaviness. It is an Alsatian wine unlike most Alsatian wine, and it is made by a grower who understands these varieties in their natural state, without the cosmetic polish of conventional winemaking.
