Alsace’s wines are amongst the most distinctive in France. It’s a delightful area to visit with its pretty villages, attractive landscape and rich tradition of gastronomy. As in many places, the flat ground produces good, standard, everyday wines while the ‘grand cru’ vineyards are on the slopes, although the process of deciding what is and isn’t a grand cru has been beset by politics and vested interests. The wines are as individual as the region and very different to those elsewhere in France. Perhaps the producers should move away from the flute-style bottle for some styles, but don’t let these dissuade you trying the clean, fresh Pinot Blancs, the rich and intense Pinot Gris and the exotic and floral Gewurztraminers. They are normally drier than you would expect!
Ask a confirmed wine buff to place Jura on the map and they would probably struggle! Well it is half way between Burgundy and the Swiss border in an area also famous for Mont d’Or cheese. Its intriguing range of unique wine styles combined with a great number of artisan, often organic and ‘natural’, wine producers has made Jura a darling of sommeliers worldwide. White wine styles generally fall into two distinct camps. Ouillé wines are ‘normal’ whereas sous voile wines, including Vin Jaune, sit under a layer of yeast in the same fashion as Fino or Manzanilla sherry.
Henri Ehrhart Riesling, grand cru Kaefferkopf, Alsace 2019Riesling 13.0% Vol
