Alsace, located in the extreme north-east of France, is Distinguished from other French wine regions by its strong Franco-Germanic influences. These influences are the result of a back-and-forth between the German and French sovereignties over the last few centuries. They can be seen not only in the architecture and culture of Alsace, but also in the wines. Alsace wines are produced under three main appellations: Alsace and Alsace Grand Cru for still white wines (Sweet and Dry), and Crémant d'Alsace for Sparkling wines.
Almost all the wines produced in this region fall under one of these three appellations. Alsace Grand Cru wines are produced from one of the 51 privileged vineyards spread along the Length of the region. Alsace is the only French wine region to produce significant quantities of Riesling and Gewurztraminer. These two grape varieties are more commonly associated with German wines and are reminiscent of Alsace's history.
Auxerrois is a white grape variety native to Lorraine, which is also found in Alsace and in the Loire Valley, where it took off in 1950. Its name comes from the nurseries in Auxerre where it found refuge during the Second World War. Often called Pinot Auxerrois, it is part of the Moselle, Alsace and Côtes-de-Toul AOC grape varieties. Auxerrois should not be confused with côt or malbec, which are red grape varieties from the Cahors region and which may bear the same name. The bunches of Auxerrois are of medium size with small berries. It is a semi-late grape variety whose buds only come out when temperatures are well above 10°C. Auxerrois wines are characterized by finesse and acidity and subtle aromas of exotic fruits, fruits and white flowers. In France, it represents 1,600 hectares of production and some small parcels of Auxerrois are also present in Luxembourg, Germany, Canada and South Africa (2,300 hectares in total).
sparkling wines from the region of Alsace go well with generally quite well with dishes of shellfish, poultry or appetizers and snacks such as recipes of mussels with bleu de bresse, chicken waterzooi with blanche de hoegaarden and pink pepper or seed crackers.
On the nose in the region of Alsace often reveals types of flavors of citrus, chalk or honey and sometimes also flavors of apricot, biscuits or peach. In the mouth in the region of Alsace is a powerful with a nice vivacity and a fine and pleasant bubble.
St Hilaire is the patron saint of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, the pretty Champagne village which is famous for scoring 99 on the Echelle des Crus. (This classification of Champagne vineyards was developed in the mid-20th century as a means of setting the price of grapes grown through the villages of the Champagne wine region.) Prime territory That the village missed out on grand cru status by one point is generally agreed to be an injustice – all the more so as it is home not only to the superlative Clos de ...
Disconcerting: I couldn’t forget this bottle for days afterwards. Still can’t. Back in August, wine critic Lin Liu MW (together with her partner Philippe Lejeune of Château de Chambert in Cahors) came to dinner, en route to a short holiday in Provence. One of the bottles Lin brought for us to try together was the 2018 Les Rocheuses, Parcelles No 5 et 6, from Château Le Rey in Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux. It came in a slope-shouldered bottle, not a classic Bordeaux bottle. We tried it with some R ...
How’s the weather been this year? Awful. ‘La nature m’écoeure’, one of my wine-growing friends posted on Facebook on 8 April, having been out to look at the frost-crippled shoots on his vines that morning: ‘Nature disgusts me’. It takes a lot to make a wine-grower feel that. He wasn’t alone. Jeremiads echo around the northern hemisphere as 2021 closes. It’s been the year of all the miseries. None suffered more horribly than the growers of Germany’s Ahr valley, where floodwaters caused by the fou ...
