France · Central Alsace

SAS MAISON CHARLES FREY

A Dambach-la-Ville family estate whose 20 hectares and nearly 100 parcels feed Alsace wines and a perfumed, dry orange wine.

The producer

Maison Charles Frey farms 20 hectares across four villages from its base in Dambach-la-Ville. Nearly 100 parcels in four communes are handled for their own microclimates, while biodynamic farming, hand harvesting, indigenous yeasts and lees ageing shape how fruit reaches the bottle.

Macération shows a more tactile side of the range. The 2024 orange Vin de France blends 95% Gewürztraminer with 5% Muscat: bergamot, lychee and floral perfume meet a generous palate, dry structure and skin-derived tannin.

Known for

Biodynamic, parcel-led Alsace wines, including Gewürztraminer–Muscat orange wine.

Notable facts

The story

The First Bottles

Before 1963, the Frey family sold grapes that had been pressed at home to a négociant. That year, Charles and Renée Frey committed themselves fully to viticulture and produced their first bottles. The work that had ended with pressed grapes leaving Dambach-la-Ville now continued through fermentation, bottling and release under the family name. Charles and Renée’s bottles marked a new practical chapter for the estate, later joined by Dominique after Alsace viticulture school in 1984, Julien after studies in viticulture and oenology in 2003, and Thiébaud in 2019 to support daily work and commercial activity.

From the atlas

SAS MAISON CHARLES FREY

At A Glance

The Producer

Maison Charles Frey is the name used by SAS MAISON CHARLES FREY, a family estate at 1 rue du Pinot Blanc in Dambach-la-Ville, Alsace. The family says it has grown wine here since 1709, after arriving from Switzerland. Its current 20-hectare holding is divided among four villages, so a bottle is shaped not only by grape and cellar work but by the parcel from which its fruit arrives.

Place

Dambach-la-Ville is the estate’s base, while its vines extend across four villages and nearly 100 parcels in four communes. Each parcel is treated for its own microclimate and particular conditions. This scattered layout means the estate’s Alsace wines and its orange Vin de France do not begin from one uniform source of fruit: site selection remains part of how each cuvée is assembled and handled.

Soil And Site

The available site record names parcels, communes and microclimates rather than a single soil type, slope or cru. That distinction matters in the vineyard: nearly 100 separate parcels require observation parcel by parcel, and the resulting wines can carry different degrees of fruit ripeness, perfume and texture before cellar choices enter the picture.

Story

The estate’s modern course runs through successive family arrivals. Dominique Frey joined his father Charles in 1984 after attending an Alsace viticulture school; Julien followed in 2003 after studying viticulture and oenology; Thiébaud joined Julien in 2019 to support daily work and develop the commercial side. Alongside that succession, organic conversion began in 1996 and biodynamic certification followed in 2001. Those decisions place vineyard care, harvesting and fermentation at the centre of wines drawn from many small parcels rather than from a single block.

Vineyards And Cellar

Cover crops grow between alternate vineyard rows to support plant and insect life, while biodynamic preparations form part of the estate’s farming. Fruit is hand-harvested, then gently pressed as whole grapes. Gentle extraction limits rough handling before fermentation, helping preserve the aromatic material that is especially important in the documented Gewürztraminer- and Muscat-led Macération.

Fermentations use indigenous yeasts, and wines age on lees in large wooden foudres, barrels or stainless-steel tanks. Some cuvées remain in élevage for as long as 24 months. Lees contact and longer ageing can broaden texture and bring the elements of fruit, acidity and tannin together; vessel choice lets the cellar vary that development without treating every parcel in the same way. Sulfur is used minimally, and a light coarse filtration is used when needed.

Wines

The documented range includes Alsace wines in several categories alongside Macération, an orange Vin de France listed in both 2023 and 2024. Macération occupies a distinct place in that range because it is built around skin contact rather than a conventional pale, quickly pressed aromatic white. The 2023 wine spent 15 days on skins and then nine months in 600-litre barrels, producing a dry wine with ripe fruit, soft layers and a tannic frame.

For the 2024 release, the documented blend is 95% Gewürztraminer and 5% Muscat. Those grapes point the wine toward rose-like floral notes, lychee, bergamot and Muscat perfume, while the orange format adds weight and grip beyond simple floral fruit. It is a named bottle with a clearly different structural role from the estate’s Alsace categories.

In The Glass

Macération 2023 opens with rose water, wax, citrus, peach tea and pungent blossom. On the palate, ripe fruit moves through a soft, layered texture before a dry finish with a marmalade-like impression. The 15 days of skin contact explain the wine’s tannin and its more tactile shape; nine months in large barrels give the fruit time to settle into a broader mid-palate rather than a purely immediate aromatic rush.

The 2024 notes centre on bergamot, lychee, Muscat and floral aromas, with a generous palate. Across these two documented vintages, the useful expectation is not a neutral white but a perfumed orange wine where floral fruit meets dry structure, skin-derived grip and a finish that carries more than scent alone.

A Bottle To Understand It

Choose Macération 2024 first. It is an orange Vin de France made from 95% Gewürztraminer and 5% Muscat, two grapes whose floral and lychee-like character is easy to recognise in the glass. Bergamot, Muscat and blossom lead into a generous palate, while the orange-wine format supplies texture and tannin. It puts the estate’s aromatic fruit, hands-on cellar approach and willingness to work beyond a standard Alsace white into one bottle.

Anecdote

Before 1963, the Frey family sold its grapes, pressed at home, to a négociant. That year, Charles and Renée Frey committed themselves fully to viticulture and produced their first bottles. The decision changed a practical sequence that had long ended with the merchant: grapes were harvested, pressed and sold on rather than leaving Dambach-la-Ville as wine under the family’s own name. From 1963, bottles made by Charles and Renée carried the estate’s work beyond the cellar door, beginning the bottling chapter followed later by Dominique, Julien and Thiébaud.

Final Word

Maison Charles Frey is best approached through the link between many small parcels and a hands-on cellar. Macération shows the clearest documented version of that link: aromatic grapes, skin contact, dry structure and a layered palate.

Sources

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