Domaine Justin Boxler is run today by Justin's granddaughters, Charlotte and Florent Boxler, who are the younger cousins of Jean Boxler, proprietor of the Albert Boxler estate in the same village. Both estates are farming vineyard holdings passed down from the original Boxler family who moved to Alsace from Switzerland in 1672. Much like their neighboring family estate, Domaine Justin Boxler has ownership in some of the most coveted Grand Crus in Alsace, such as Brand, Wineck-Schlossberg, and Sommerberg. Luckily for you, they are not as well-known as Albert Boxler, and thus have very reasonably priced wines at a high level of quality. 

The style at Justin Boxler is clean and classic, employing very old foudres for most fermentation and aging, and the wines are not sweet at all like some other Alsatian producers. Charlotte has been farming organically and received certification in 2022, she also began harvesting earlier than most other growers to achieve lean wines with racy acidity. However, this is a late harvest designation, produced from a very small plot of Gewurztraminer vines planted in 1965. 

In 1983, Alsace got its official designation for late-harvest grapes, which may only be used in Alsace. The requirements are that the wine must come from a single field and must be made from either riesling, muscat, gewürztraminer or pinot gris. In addition, the wine must not be fortified and the natural sugar content must be at least 95 oechsle (220 g/l) for Riesling and Muscat or 105 Oechsle (243 g/l) for Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris. Each year a limit is set for when the grapes may be picked at the earliest, based on the weather patterns that season. Despite the high sugar levels at harvest, the resulting wine can be semi-sweet or more on the dry side depending on the vintage. 

Pairing: Baked Brie with dried fruits and nuts, Apple crisp 

Grape: Gewurztraminer (60-year-old vines)

Farming Practices: Certified Organic, Practicing Biodynamic

Soil: Granite