Alsace

Alsace:-

Almost all wines are white, except those made from the Pinot noir grape which are pale red, often rosé, rarely red (e.g. Rouge d'Ottrott . Sparkling wines known as Crémant d'Alsace are also made. Much of the white wines of Alsace are made from aromatic grape varieties, so many characteristic Alsace wines are aromatic, floral and spicy. Since they very seldom have any oak barrel aromas they tend to be very varietally pure in their character. Traditionally all Alsace wines were dry (which once set them apart from German wines with which they share many grape varieties), but an ambition to produce wines with more intense and fruity character has led some producers to produce wines which contain some residual sugar. Since there is no official labeling that differentiates completely dry from off-dry (or even semi-sweet) wines, this has occasionally led to some confusion among consumers. It is more common to find residual sugar in Gewürztraminer and Pinot gris, which reach a higher natural sugar content on ripeness, than in Riesling, Muscat or Sylvaner. Usually there is a "house style" as to residual sugar, i.e., some producers only produce totally dry wines, except for their dessert style wines.

Almost all production in Alsace is of AOC wine, since there is no Vin de pays region, which covers Alsace. Thus, the only alternative to producing AOC wine is to declassify it all the way down to Vin de table, which generally means that neither grape varieties, region of origin or vintage may be identified. However, this solution is mostly avoided since edelzwicker and gentil may be blended from several varieties, i.e. varieties that exceed the AOC rules in the concerned season.

Bottles

There is a legal requirement for bottling Alsace wine in tall bottles commonly called flûtes d'Alsace In the AOC rules; the bottle type is actually called vin du Rhin, i.e., "Rhine wine bottle". Without being mandated by law, this bottle format is also common and traditional in many German regions, particularly for Riesling and other traditional white wine varieties.

Late harvest wines

There are two late harvest classifications, Vendange Tardive (VT) and Sélection de Grains Nobles (SGN). Vendange Tardive means "late harvest" (which in German would be Spätlese), but in terms of must weight requirements, VT is similar to Auslese in Germany. Sélection de Grains Nobles means "selection of noble berries", i.e. grapes affected by noble rot, and is similar to a German Beerenauslese. For both VT and SGN, Alsace wines tend to be higher in alcohol and therefore slightly lower in sugar than the corresponding German wines. Therefore, Riesling VT and Muscat VT tend to be semi-sweet rather than sweet, while Gewürztraminer and Pinot gris tend to be rather sweet already at VT level. But as is the case with sweetness in other Alsace wines, this depends to a large extent on the house style of the producer.

The required level of ripeness of the grapes, which was increased in 2001, are as follows, expressed as sugar content of the must and potential alcohol

The producer Aimé Stentz produces a late harvest Pinot blanc known as Pi-Noblesse, which is ineligible for either VT or SGN labelling

Varieties	VT since 2001	SGN since 2001	VT before 2001	SGN before 2001
Gewürztraminer Pinot gris	243 grams per liter or 15.3% potential alcohol or 110 °Oe [14]	279 grams per liter or 18.2% potential alcohol or 128 °Oe	14.3% potential alcohol or 104 °Oe	16.4% potential alcohol or 117 °Oe
Riesling Muscat	220 grams per liter or 14% potential alcohol or 102 °Oe	256 grams per liter or 16.4% potential alcohol or 117 °Oe	12.9% potential alcohol or 94 °Oe	15.1% potential alcohol or 108 °Oe

The minimum required must weights have again been increased to the following:

VT: Riesling, Muscat, Muscat Ottonel: 235 g/l (formerly 220 g/l); Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer: 257 g/l (formerly 243 g/l)

SGN: Riesling, Muscat, Muscat Ottonel: 276 g/l (formerly 256 g/l); Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer: 306 g/l (formerly 279 g/l)

Grape varieties

Variety	Area 2008 (proportion)[
Riesling	21.7%
Gewürztraminer	18.6%
Pinot gris	15.2%
Auxerrois blanc	14.2%
Pinot noir	9.6%
Sylvaner	8.9%
Pinot blanc[16]	7.0%
Muscat varieties	2.3%
Chasselas	0.6%
Other, including Chardonnay and Savagnin	1.3%
Mixed vineyards	0.6%
Sum	15 535 ha

Over the last decades, plantings of Riesling, Pinot noir and in particular Pinot gris have increased, while Sylvaner (once the most grown variety) and Chasselas have been on the decrease.

Varietal labels and similar designations[

Alsace is known for being the only French wine-growing region with a long practice in varietal labeling, which was a German tradition long before varietally labelled New world wines scored considerable export success. However, under appellation rules, not all varietal-sounding names on labels need to correspond to a single grape variety. Only one varietal label may be used on a wine, and a blend may not have more than one varietal name on the label.

Label

Varieties allowed (if different)

AOC Alsace

AOC Alsace Grand Cru

VT & SGN

Comment

Noble varieties

Gewurztraminer

Gewürztraminer

X

X

X

Written without umlaut in French

Muscat

Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains Muscat Rose à Petits Grains Muscat Ottonell

X

X

X

Blends within these varieties are allowed for AOC Alsace, But only for specific AOC Grands Crus in certain cases. Not allowed for Grands Crus on Zotzenberg (fr) or Kaefferkopf

Pinot gris

X

X

X

called Tokay d'Alsace before 1994 and later Tokay Pinot gris. The use of Tokay has been phased out to avoid confusion with wines from Tokaji in Hungary. From the 2007 vintage, Pinot gris is the only allowed designation.

Riesling

X

X

X

Other single variety labels

Chasselas Gutedel

Chasselas

X

Klevener de Heiligenstein

Savagnin Rose

X

Allowed for existing vineyards in Bourgheim, Gertwiller, Goxwiller, Heiligenstein and Obernai, with no replanting allowed outside the designation area after 2021.

Pinot noir

X

For red and rosé wines

Sylvaner

X

The variety Sylvaner - pure or mixed with Gewürztraminer, Pinot gris and Riesling - is allowed in wines from the Grand Cru vineyard Zotzenberg (fr) in Mittelbergheim since 2006, but not the varietal label.

Labels allowing blends of several varieties

Pinot[19] Klevner

Auxerrois blanc Pinot blanc Pinot gris Pinot noir, vinified as blanc de noirs

X

Pinot-labelled wines can be varietally pure or blends in any proportions of any of these varieties. Klevner-labelled wines are not supposed to be different. It has been claimed that the regulatory bodies, quietly tolerate the blending of Chardonnay into Pinot blanc-labeled wine, while against the AOC regulations.

Edelzwicker

Any variety allowed in AOC Alsace

X

Commonly blended from several varieties in any proportions.

Labels outside the appellation regulations

Gentil

Any variety allowed in AOC Alsace

Unregulated older designation for blends that has been reintroduced.Consensus seems to be that a Gentil should have a minimum of 50% of the four noble grapes, and can therefore be thought of as a high-end Edelzwicker.

Other varieties grown in Alsace

Chardonnay

Allowed in Crémant d'Alsace, but not in AOC Alsace wines. Still Alsace wine from Chardonnay can only be sold as Vin de table according to regulations, but its blending into "Pinot blanc" is said to be quietly tolerated.

Non-AOC wines

Almost all Alsace wine is produced under one of the region's three AOC designations—Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru and Crémant d'Alsace. Unlike most other French wine regions, there exists no Vin de pays designation for Alsace. This means that wines that do not qualify for AOC status have to be sold as simple Vin de table de France. This happens in some instances when producers wish to use other grape varieties in their wine, like Domaine Zind-Humbrecht which sells its cuvée Zind, a blend of 65% Chardonnay and 35% Auxerrois.

Industry structure

Up to 2,000 growers bottle their own wine, but more than 80% of the wine is produced by 175 producers, including many winemaking cooperatives. Even the largest winemaking companies/négociants in Alsace tend to be family-owned.In 2001, approximately 45% of Alsace wine was made by cooperatives.

Producers

Some of the best-known producers include Maison Trimbach, Domaine Zind-Humbrecht, Hugel & Fils, Léon Beyer, Weinbach, Josmeyer and Marcel Deiss. Many of the larger houses, such as Hugel, sell both wines from their own vineyards and market wines they have produced from purchased grapes, i.e., operate as négociant. Producers calling themselves "Domaine", such as Zind-Humbrecht, are supposed to only use grapes from their own vineyards. There are also several winemaking cooperatives, some of which have a rather good reputation.

Route des Vins d'Alsace

The Route des Vins d'Alsace (Wine route of Alsace) is an approximately 170 km long road, crossing the main wine producing areas of the region. From north to south, the following 67 communes