France Alsace
The wines of Alsace reflect the ambivalent situation of a border province. There are two possible physical boundaries between France and Germany: the Rhine and the crest of the Vosges mountains, which run parallel 15 miles (25km) west of the river. The Rhine has been the political frontier through most of history, but the mountains have always been the line that makes the great climatic, stylistic, even linguistic difference. Alsace has never been German, except in periods of military occupation. Its language and its market may be, but its soul is entirely French. Alsace makes Germanic wine in the French way. The tone is set by the climate, the soil, and the choice of grape varieties: all comparable with German wine regions, the nearest of which is Baden just across the Rhine.
Traditionally, Alsace winemakers sought bone dry, firm, strong wines, fermenting every ounce of the sugar produced by the long dry summers of Alsace and, often, adding even more (chaptalizing) to make the wine even stronger. This contrasted with the traditional German model of feather-light wines with natural grape sugar lingering delicately therein. But of late these two stereotypes have been moving towards each other. The average residual sugar level of Alsace wine has been increasing while German wines are becoming drier and stronger. The best producers on both sides of the Rhine are proud that all of this is a result of lowering yields and concentrating on what each grape has to offer. But consumers complain that Alsace wine is becoming more difficult to match with food, and that labels give them too few clues as to how sweet the wine is likely to taste.
The major clues on Alsace labels, most unusually for France, are varietal. The grapes that give their names and special qualities to the wines of Alsace are the Riesling of the Rhine - responsible here and in Germany for the best wine of all - Sylvaner, Muscat, Pinots Blanc, Gris, and Noir, and the uniquely perfumed Gewϋrztraminer. Gewϋrztraminer is the perfect introduction to the province. You would not think that so fruity a scent could come from a wine that can be so clean and dry. Würze means spice in German - although a more accurate description would make mention of rose petals, grapefruit, and, sometimes, lychees.
Gewϋrztraminer has its place with some of the richest of the very rich Alsatian dishes: goose or pork. But many Alsatians consider Riesling their true grand vin. It offers something much more elusive: a balance of hard and gentle, flowery and strong, which leads you on and never surfeits. Those that don't tend to favour Pinot Gris (once called Tokay d'Alsace), which makes the fullest-bodied but least perfumed wine of the region; it has an obvious place at table as an alternative to a white burgundy.
Alsace Muscat is usually a blend of Muscat Ottonel and Muscat Blanc grapes. At its best it keeps all of Muscat's characteristic grapey scent, but makes a dry wine as clean as a whistle: a playful aperitif.
Klevener de Heiligenstein is a grape speciality of the area round the village of Heiligenstein just north of Barr, in a limestone-dominated area which extends as far north as Ottrott. The lightly spicy, sometimes slightly buttery wine is relatively light in alcohol, and in good vintages it can age well.
Much more important is Pinot Blanc- a name used both for Pinot Blanc, itself the everyday grape of Alsace which usually manages to transmit some of the characteristic smokiness of the region's whites, and for the softer Auxerrois (the two are frequently blended). To keep matters complicated the Auxerrois is sometimes labelled Klevner, or even Clevner. It is also the most common base wine for sparkling Crémant d'Alsace made by the traditional method, which at its best can rival the Crémants of Burgundy and the Loire.
In a class above the commonest wines of the region comes Sylvaner. Alsace Sylvaner is light and sometimes attractively tart. Without the tartness it can be a little dull and coarse in flavour. It is often the first wine to be served at an Alsatian dinner, to build up to the main wine, the Riesling.
The lesser grapes, Chasselas and Knipperlé (which can shine on poor, granitic soils), are not usually identified on the label.
Very young, particularly in the summer after a good vintage, they are so good that visitors should not miss them by insisting on a smarter one with a name. The term Edelzwicker (noble mixture) is usually applied to a mixture of grape varieties but rarely noble ones.
Of these grapes, only Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer, and Muscat - the Alsace grape nobility - are generally allowed the controversial Alsace Grand Cru appellation. Although the quality of old Sylvaner vines in Zotzenberg north of Mittelbergheim has earned Grand Cru status. Schoffit and Zind-Humbrecht make superbly rich wines, especially Riesling and Pinot Gris, from these warm volcanic soils. In general the vineyards of the Bas-Rhin are less sheltered by the Vosges and produce rather lighter wines.
One of the attractions of Alsace for winemakers and more intellectual connoisseurs is the mosaic of soil types within the region and the challenge of matching grapes to them. But what distinguishes Alsace from other French wine regions is its low rainfall. A quick comparison shows that only Perpignan is drier than Colmar, and even Toulon in Provence is wetter than Strasbourg. Drought may sometimes plague vineyards here but ripeness is usually guaranteed.
Like its counterparts from the Loire and from Germany, Alsace wine is essentially about fruit rather than oak. If oak is used at all it is generally in the form of old oval casks incapable of imparting oak flavour. Most Alsace winemakers have deliberately suppressed the second malolactic fermentation for their whites, but it is generally necessary to soften the 6% or so of Alsace wine that is red and made from Pinot Noir grapes. Colours and styles vary enormously from the traditional tart, dark rosé to some deep crimson, oaky wines made from barrel-aged, low-yield fruit. As in Germany, the holy grail of perfect red Pinot is hard for winemakers to ignore, but harder still to achieve.
Another challenge for the region's winemakers is to make the most of its finest autumns when seriously ripe grapes can be picked to make either Vendange Tardive wines or, even sweeter, rarer, and generally, botrytized, Sélection de Grains Nobles made from several different pickings. A late-picked Gewurztraminer has perhaps the most exotic smell of any wine in the world, and can at the same time keep a remarkable cleanness and finesse of flavour.
Text from the World Atlas of Wine- 6th edition. Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson.
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