FRANCE'S ALSACE

We love visiting the small storybook villages along the ROUTE du VIN in Alsace.  The wines are amongst the world's best-kept secrets and this translates into favorable pricing for those of us who enjoy DRINKING wine (as opposed to those who are merely "collectors"). 

Each little town seems to be littered with wineries...small signs and display windows beckon tourists to ring the doorbell and come inside for a "degustation" (wine tasting).  The region boasts more than 31,000 acres of vines and makes more than 100 million bottles annually.  As I noted above, this region is the best kept secret in the vast world of wine.  Quality, as in other areas, continues to improve.  

Though Americans seem to identify the Gewürztraminer wine with Alsace, we drink far more Pinot Blanc, Riesling and Pinot Gris on our visits there.  The locals find the Gewürztraminer too overwhelming for most foods, save for Munster or Livarot cheeses.   The Pinot Blanc or Sylvaner make for nice aperitifs, while good Muscat (and these are usually fairly dry, by the way) pairs handsomely with asparagus starters.  With the main plate, we seem to enjoy the Tokay Pinot Gris or crisp, dry Rieslings.  Though often more costly than Sauternes, one can find stunning late-harvest wines which are called "Vendanges Tardives" or "Selection de grains nobles". 

Alsace should be an easier region to understand for Americans as this is one of the few areas in France which tends to label its wine by the grape variety.  You'll frequently find the name of the village where the grapes were grown to be somewhere on the wine label.  Another feature to add to the confusion...there are some 50 villages with "Grand Cru" status.  This element indicates not only a superior vineyard site, but regulations mandate smaller maximum yields as well as requiring higher sugar levels or riper fruit.  As production of grand cru status wines totals less than 4% of the region's production, these are, of course, more costly.  Further, only Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris and Muscat had been entitled to this lofty status.   In 2006 the INAO group awarded "Grand Cru" status to the "lowly" Sylvaner grape in one small corner of northern Alsace.

The region also produces a simple little blended table wine, called Edelzwicker.  This is usually made of odd lots and typically Sylvaner, Chasselas and Pinot Blanc account for much of the blend.  Apparently the name translates to something like "the cellar garbage can".  Happily, we've encountered a number of these which are not at all trashy!   You'll sometimes find these little blends labeled as "Gentil" (we have one from Meyer-Fonne presently that's superb!), though this designation traditionally refers to wine made from a mixed-planting or field-blended wine. 

One little difficulty with the wines from this lovely region is that consumers can't tell how sweet the wines are by looking at the label.

When you ask various producers about their wines, they often know the exact number of grams-per-liter of residual sugar are in their wines, but this information is rarely communicated on the label.  Of course, balance is the key, so a high acid wine with a modest amount of sweetness tastes drier than a low acid wine with a small bit of sweetness.  
Still, it would be helpful to know which wines are, in fact,  dry.  A few estates are aware of this 'problem' and we hope they will work to solve this riddle.

Some Alsatian Wines

VALENTIN ZUSSLIN

We had a couple of days for "research" in Alsace and had seen a mention of an intriguing and relatively unknown domaine called Valentin Zusslin.  The property is a small, 13 hectare, family-operated estate in Orschwihr.

Most of their vineyards are situated within the Bollenberg region, a limestone soil that is ideal for Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer.   The family traces its origins back to 1691 and today you'll find three generations of the Zusslins working in the vineyards and in the cellar.

Jean-Marie, his daughter Marie and son Jean-Paul, converted the vineyards to biodynamic farming in the 1990s.  This is a noble work, to be sure.  The idea is to cultivate the vines in a responsible fashion, making the vineyards healthier and naturally resistant to disease.

They make a full range of wines, from sparkling Cremant d'Alsace to table wines and into the range of sticky and sweet.  We found a number of nice wines here and picked up a couple of bottles to bring back to San Francisco for tasting.

Valentin Zusslin Riesling with a home-made vegetable terrine.

At the present time we have but one wine in the shop.  It's the 2005 Muscat d'Alsace "Cuvée Marie."  This is made entirely of the Muscat Ottonel and it displays a wonderful perfume and plenty of charm.  The wine seems rather dry on the palate, with nice intensity and length...the finish lingers, without the wine being heavy or ponderous.  

We also have some bottles of the outstanding 2004 Riesling "Clos Liebenberg."  This comes from a site adjacent to the grand cru "Pfingstberg."  The wine is stony and minerally with lots of floral elements.  It's quite intense and is not a simple, little 'care-free' sort of Riesling.  It demands to be paired with good food...

Additional selections will be available shortly...once Bob and Ellen have a chance to taste them.

Jean-Marie and his daughter Marie.

 

 

 

 

Currently in stock:  2005 VALENTIN ZUSSLIN Muscat d'Alsace $19.99
2004 VALENTIN ZUSSLIN Riesling "Clos Liebenberg"  SALE $34.99

MEYER-FONNÉ

A small domaine in the town of Katzenthal, François & Felix Meyer farm something like eleven hectares of vineyards.   While not biodynamic, they are moving in the direction of organically-farmed vineyards.

They make a full range of wines, including a good, zesty, dry Cremant d'Alsace.  
 
We currently have, in fact, their Cremant d'Alsace.  It's a really nice bottle of bubbly with a mildly appley note on the nose and it's dry and crisp on the palate...very fine!

There's also a dry Muscat from the 2009 harvest.  Very floral and fruity...you can serve this with asparagus dishes as it's a delight in that company.

François, Nicole and their son, Felix.

 

 

 

The next winemaking generation.

Currently in stock: 
2009 Muscat d'Alsace  $19.99
Cremant d'Alsace  $21.99

MARTIN SCHAETZEL

This small domaine is run by Professor Jean Schaetzel.  He's a wine school teacher in the nearby village of Rouffach.   But it's not a school for beginners...it's a graduate school for people who are already winemakers.  That should give you an indication of this fellow's credentials.


Jean took over for his uncle Martin who had run the property for a number of years.

They're located in Ammerschwihr and have about 11.2 hectares of vineyards (6.4 of their own, 4.8 being rented).  The vineyards are tended using organic farming practices.



We visited Schaetzel in the summer of 2007 and tasted a number of wines from the 2006 vintage.  We tasted a few of the same wine from the fine 2005 vintage alongside the difficult 2006s...I found many of the 2006s were splendid, testimony to Jean Schaetzel's talents as a winemaker.

Currently in stock:  2007 Pinot Blanc Sold Out
2005 Riesling Sold Out
2004 Gewürztraminer  Sold Out

DOMAINE EMILE  BOECKEL

Emile Boeckel is an old family-run estate in the northern reaches of Alsace.  I remember my dad used to stock wines from this property back in the Dark Ages when Bay Area wine drinkers only knew Hugel and Trimbach as the sources for wine from Alsace.  The Boeckels made good wine and the prices were fair.  Some things don't change!

The family owns about 20 hectares of vineyards and they buy grapes from an equal number of hectares.   Emile Boeckel is the patriarch of the estate and his sons Jean-Daniel and Thomas run the place.    

The winery is a curious maze of uneven floors and galleries.  If you know the "Winchester Mystery House" here in the Bay Area, then you might call this Alsace's "Wine-chester Mystery Winery."

 

 

You'll find bins and bins of unlabeled bottles.  Back in the late 1950s Boeckel built a track around the entire cellar with these little "baskets" to carry bottles to the labeling machine.  Modern when it was installed, it's a charming relic of the past.

The French wines made of the Sylvaner variety are usually pretty close to Evian water in terms of character and complexity. 

Yet the Boeckels manage to make an amazingly good wine from their Sylvaner vineyards.  One secret is the vines are old.  A second part of the equation is that the vineyard site is in a "Grand Cru" location, except that Sylvaner has not been viewed as a "noble" variety.  It had not been able to be sold as a "Grand Cru" wine!  This changed recently and starting with the 2005 vintage, Boeckel will offer a "Grand Cru Zotzenberg" Sylvaner.   Get your wallet ready, because surely this means an escalation in price.  

When you open a bottle of the "Vieilles Vignes" Sylvaner from Boeckel, you immediately will inhale a fragrance that can only be from Alsace.  This is what people refer to when speaking about terroir.  This wine has plenty of it!  There's a minerality and spice tone that is magnificent.  We currently have the 2008 vintage in stock and it's most sensibly-priced at $15.99.   The wine is predominantly from their Zotzenberg vineyard, the newly-designated Grand Cru site. 

Wait 'til it says "Grand Cru" on the bottle...then you'll be paying serious money.

Jean Daniel Boeckel explaining the 'secrets' of Sylvaner.

A recent vintage of Gewurztraminer is a nice example of that grape, as it's mildly fruity and lightly grapefruity.  It's not an "over-the-top" sort of wine...good, though.

Currently in stock:  2008 Sylvaner  $15.99
2009 Gewurztraminer  $17.99

 

 

BOTT-GEYL

This estate is located in the small wine village of Beblenheim.  We have fond memories of a summer evening with some good food in a little restaurant there and a few bottles of Bott-Geyl wine.

Year later we visited the domaine and met Jean-Christophe Bott who had taken over the family vineyards and winery.  He was embarking on a project leaning towards organic farming and now the winery cultivates its vineyards according to biodynamic principles.  

Today the estate comprises something close to 13 hectares of vines in 60 parcels spread out along the route du vin in more than a half a dozen villages.  Bott Geyl produces the typical range of Alsatian wines, from rather dry and light to full-bodied and sweet.

Bott has realized that the character of the wine stems from viticulture and then having good, simple cellar practices.  

His "Elements" Riesling is a good example of a crisp, mildly minerally Alsace white...the aromas are lightly fruity and floral with a touch of lime.  It tastes rather dry and seems to have a good level of acidity.  

Currently in stock:  2007 BOTT-GEYL RIESLING "Les Elements"  $19.99

HUGEL et Fils

This family-operation turns out about a million bottles annually.  Their wines, along with their large competitors, the Trimbach family, can be found all around the world.  

As with a winery such as Robert Mondavi, the modest-quality wines are, at least, well-made and periodically rise above that level.  They launched a new tier of wines, designated "Jubilee" and these are of greater interest.  The winery has been making some outstanding Vendange Tardive wines, but have your credit card ready as these are not cheap.  

We have access to many of their wines, so special ordering something is not a problem!

Currently we have some half bottles of a nice Gewurztraminer in stock.  Medium-bodied, you'll recognize the perfume immediately as you uncork the bottle!

Currently available:  2009 Hugel Gewurztraminer $14.99 (375ml bottles)

We have easy access to a number of Hugel wines.  With a few days' notice, we can have these for you.

 

ROLAND SCHMITT

Monsieur Schmitt was a charming an engaging fellow, a brilliant winegrower and   winemaker.  He was tragically killed in an auto accident a few years ago, but his widow, Anne-Marie, carries on in this northern outpost in Alsace.  She is now ably assisted by her son  

 

The wines here are quite dry and, perhaps, a shade minerally.  The domaine covers some 10 hectares, the highlights coming from the grand cru Altenberg de Bergbieten.  

A new cellar is on the drawing board, which will allow for more gentle handling of the wines, especially via gravity flow.  Vineyard practices are heading in the direction of organic farming.

We are currently "between vintages" of Schmitt wines...stay tuned!

Click Here to see My Lunch With Anne Marie.

Currently available:  2002 Muscat Glintzberg Sold Out
We can order their wines for you...

TRIMBACH

The Trimbach name is one you'll find around the world of wine as, along with the Hugel family, this clan has been a leading ambassador for the wines of Alsace.

They are viewed as a large producer in terms of sheer production numbers, but beyond that, their wines are reliable and well-made.  We like to support good quality, small, family-operated wineries and so we'd overlooked the wines from this producer, frankly.

 

We have had a couple of opportunities to taste through the Trimbach line-up and each time we've been pleasantly surprised.  There's certainly a house style (dry, in fact!) and the overall quality level is impressive, perhaps made even more so when you consider the quantity of wine the Trimbach family produces.

The story begins, we're told, in the 1600s, when the first Trimbach ventured 20 kilometers from his hometown, a mining village, to what is now a town along the Route du Vin in Alsace.  The family tree shows all sorts of connections with grapes, barrels and wine.  Today the place is run by Bernard and Hubert Trimbach and now Anne Trimbach (the 13th generation!) has recently joined the company.

With many vintners bottling "grand cru" wines, Trimbach does not.  

Yes, they do offer a few prestigious bottlings such as their magnificent Clos St. Hune Riesling.  It's a bit of an icon for Alsace and comes from a parcel of vines in the grand cru site known as Rosacker, though it's not noted on the label.  The wine shows hints of promise in its youth, but which takes years to unfold and blossom into the grand wine you expect when paying such serious money.

 

Clos St. Hune comes from a 1.67 hectare site and in a good vintage, they'll produce perhaps 8,000 bottles.

"Preacher" Hubert Trimbach reflecting on the quality of their wines...

Anne Trimbach in the cellars of the family winery in Ribeauville.

Lots of old, traditional cooperage at Trimbach.


Anne Trimbach in the vineyard directly behind the winery.

There's another special bottling called "Frederic Emile" and this is a more affordable wine, if still a splurge for most people.  This is grown in a patch located between two grand cru sites, those of Osterberg and Geisberg.  It's a wine prized for its austerity, though it does well with age and they often don't release it until the wine is close to 5 years old...Trimbach considers this their "signature" Riesling and, in fact, nearly half the wine they make is Riesling.

The Trimbach family is not one which follows the current fashion of making wines with residual sugar.  In fact, they look to make the wines as stone, bone dry.


The Cuvée Fredric Emile from the 2002 vintage is quite dry and minerally.  Think of a streak of lime and stones amidst a floral bouquet.  The wine is starting to blossom and will probably remain on a plateau for another 5-8+ years.  Maybe longer.

 

 

With many Pinot Gris wines from Alsace being a bit sweet, it's great to find one which is reliably dry.  Trimbach's carries the "Reserve" designation and it comes from estate grown and purchased fruit.  "We've always made it in the dry, Trimbach style," explains Anne, "and the wine can be a bit austere in its youth and we know it.  That's why we give it some bottle age before releasing the wine."

There's a Reserve Personelle Pinot Gris, too, though this is not offered each and every vintage and it's actually from the Osterberg (grand cru) site.  It's a small production bottling and does have a touch of sweetness.

Their basic Gewurztraminer was a real surprise...the nose was classic and hugely fruity with lots of rose petal fragrances.  It's not bone dry but the residual sugar is just above most people's threshold for sweetness... The special bottling called Cuvee des Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre is even more impressive with spicy, peppery, grapefruity notes.  

And of course they periodically produce some late harvest wines which are sweet show-pieces.  Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer, typically.

Currently available:  2008 Riesling  $19.99

Gewürztraminer  $25.99
2003 Clos St Hune Riesling  $149.99 (750ml)
2003 Clos St Hune Riesling $79.99 (375ml)
2002 Cuvée Frederic Emile $54.99

We also have several Trimbach-labeled eaux-de-vie, so if you'd like a bottle of Prunelle Sauvage, Framboise or Poire Williams, we typically have 'em.

 

 

 

 

 

ALBERT BOXLER

Young Jean Boxler and his wife Sylvie run the show at the family estate these days in Niedermorschwihr, a bit off the beaten path on Alsace's Route du Vin.

The domaine now encompasses some 13 hectares and averages about 60,000 bottles annually.  The wines at this estate always are a wonderful reflection of the vineyard and the vintage.  When we've asked about the style of their wines, the response is usually "that's what the vintage produced."  The wines are left to ferment at their own pace...Jean doesn't work to craft the wines to a particular level of sweetness, for example.  "When it stops fermenting, it's finished." he explains.  As a result, a hot vintage such as 2003 tended to yield wines with more sugar in them than cooler years like 2002.

The Boxler wines are not easy to find in the United States.  Of course, production is relatively small.  The other thing is their US importer doesn't care if you buy their wines or not.  In fact, most people in the wine business don't want to buy wines from the importer...

 

Jean Boxler

Jean Boxler with the Sommerberg vineyard in the background.

We had a sensational 2002 Riesling in stock from the Grand Cru vineyard of Sommerberg.  This is what Alsatian Riesling is all about.  It's fairly dry and steely-edged, with floral notes on the nose and a minerality that's pure on the palate.  It is one of those wines that demonstrates precisely why Riesling is such a stellar grape variety.  

A Pinot Gris from 2002 is also very fine.  Here you'll encounter a hint of spice and baked apple notes on the nose.  It is fairly dry, but not austere on the palate.  

Currently in stock:  2002 Pinot Gris Sold Out
2002 Riesling "Grand Cru Sommerberg" Sold Out

MORE VINS d'ALSACE

Wine Tasting Today

TO INQUIRE ABOUT A WINE:  gerald@weimax.com