Alsace part 1 – background and Domaine Loew
Alsace is a very different place to Champagne. It mainly consists of small family producers and co-operatives. It has amazing natural beauty, with the Vosges mountains to the West and the wide open plain and Rhine river to the East. The mountains protect the vineyard area and, facing east, provide a slope on which to grow vines such that they see the full sun of the day.
The hill behind Westhoffen
Westhalten from the frighteningly steep Zinkkoepflé Grand Cru
The pretty town of Andlau, bathed in mist. Taken from the side of the Kastelberg Grand Cru
There is a lot for wine lovers to learn when they approach Alsace seriously. Firstly, there are a huge number of grape varieties in the region (by European standards). They are Riesling, Pinot Gris (used to be called Tokay Pinot Gris), Gewurztraminer, Pinot Blanc (also called Klevner or Clevner), Auxerrois (almost always blended with Pinot Blanc), Muscat (both Muscat d’Alsace/Muscat petits grains and Muscat Ottonel), Pinot Noir and Klevner de Heiligestein (which is a mutation of Savagnin, I think, and has been traced the Alto Adige in Italy!). Then there’s Sylvaner and Chasselas too. Confused already? Well, consider that they can also grow Chardonnay, but only to put it Crémant d’Alsace (the local sparkling wine). Of course, Crémant d’Alsace can be 100% Chardonnay. Thankfully, Reisling is the most widely planted variety, accounting for 23% of the surface area of land under vine.
On top of this, there are 17 distinct soil types! In Burgundy, there is one. The same for Champagne. The terroir and vineyards of Burgundy are simple compared to Alsace. On top of this, there must be 100 individual wine making towns and 50 grand crus. There’s a lot to learn before you can say you know Alsace. In fact, the more I tasted the more it seemed as though you needed to be a 20th generation wine maker to appreciate the wine.
It’s hard for the wine makers too. Not only do they need to look at the usual problems of sugar levels, acidity and phenolic ripeness, they also need to consider aromatic ripeness, which seems to move independently of the other two. Plus, they need to ensure that the right vines are growing on the right soil. It just seems as though there are too many variables.
Domaine Loew
We began tackling these issues with an enthusiastic young wine maker, Etienne Loew at Westhoffen. This town is located at the northern end of the Alsace grape growing region, about 50 kilometres from Colmar. For this reason, it is often overlooked. We commenced with the Riesling Muschelkalck 2006, so called because it grows in clay soil full of giant fossilised muscle shells. The nose was fragrant with lychee and green apples. Clean and pure. The palate was light but lacking acidity. The finish revealed a pink lady character which was quite endearing. A good entry level wine for 2006 but the lack of acid makes it a wine for enjoying young. The dryness makes it suitable for food.
The Muscat les Marnes vertes 2006 showed classic Muscat character with lifted aromas of sultana, lavender and rose petal. The palate was soft and oily. The finished showed a green banana flavour, probably a small reduction issue but not unpleasant. Another well made wine, especially for 2006. Another dry wine.
Etienne seemed busting to show us this wine, the Pinot Barrique 2005 made of Auxerrois, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris which saw some new oak maturation (Vosgienne oak, naturally). The nose was rich, spicy with an oxidative note which was becoming, the palate was full, rich, round, with superb freshness and not too marked by actual oak flavour. I seem to remember Etienne saying he washed the barrels, which removes a lot of the oak flavours. Remarkably, it needs some time in bottle to blossom, I feel. Very different — some would say perverse — but I found it exciting to see someone working with these varieties in unexpected ways.
The Pinot Gris Cormier 2006 was another well made wine, but dull coming after the previous wine. The sugar was sneaking up here and this kind of wine is more suited to drinking alone than with food. The Pinot Gris Bruderbach Clos Marienberg grand cru 2006 was beautifully aromatic, what you really want from Pinot Gris but had too much residual sugar for the acid. Again, the vintage is coming into play here. In 2006, it started raining just as the grapes were getting ready to be picked: those who picked early lost aromatics, those who picked later lost acid, gained botrytise and the yields went up.
The final 2006 was a Pinot Noir de Westhoffen. Alsacien Pinot Noir can often be almost as bad as Champenoise rouge (yes, some red wine is made in Champagne, in fact, the SLDS seem to have opened Bollinger’s last night). This was an exception. The nose was rich with dried red fruit. The palate was soft, juicy, round and fine tannins. Excellent extract and ripeness for Alsace.
We then moved to the chai to taste the 2007s — all of them. These were looking very good. Etienne found the 2007 vintage, especially in the north of Alsace, to be very good. There was relief in Alsace from the cool summer when a warm Indian summer hit at the end of August. They didn’t get the rain that Burgundy saw, for example. The selection de grains nobles Gewurztraminer from Altenberg grand cru looks particularly good now, just luscious. We also tried some Sylvaner from 80 year old vines: utterly unique with real texture and a spiciness that I haven’t seen in Sylvaner before.
As we were leaving the chai, I noticed some grapes drying in the loft:
This is to make vin de paille (straw wine). Traditionally, vignerons would dried some grapes and when they’d lost a lot of water they’d ferment them and make wine. The result is an indescribable sweet wine. It is called straw wine because in the region it is most famous in, Jura, the grapes were traditional kept on straw while they were drying, since straw is highly resistant to rot. However, Jura is colder and windier than Alsace and this too prevents the growth of mold. It took took vintages for Etienne to realise he’d have to modernise his drying a little. Vin de paille is illegal under the appellation laws in Alsace so this will just be for family and friends. Hopefully I can score a bottle too!
I discussed with Etienne the issue of residual sugar. It is a difficult issue because most Alsacien wine has residual sugar and this, in the opinion of many dinners, makes it difficult to work into a meal. The Alsaciens have a strong local cuisine so they must realise this: why would they intentionally and continuously make wine which didn’t suit food. Etienne pointed out that with the exception of the actual dessert wines, fermentations are rarely stopped by the vigneron, they simply do not ferment dry. Why? Well, Etienne says that most of Alsace has a problem with nitrogen levels in the must. The yeast need the nitrogen and when it’s run out, they die off, generally leaving a wine with 5 to 20 grams residual sugar per litre. This was my first insight into this problem and I’ll revisit it in subsequent posts.
That night we took a dinner by Christian Boulard, a friend of Ian’s and a great wine lover. His wine list must have been 400 pages long. Fred selected a Hubert de Montille Volnay 1er Cru 1997. The ripeness of 1997 has brought this wine around earlier than others I’ve had from Montille. Well made, designed for food. A nice wine to finish the day with.
