Wines of Alsace Tasting

Alsace Tasting
Friday 17 july 2009
Taught by Mike Ferneyhough

This was a very interesting tasting. Mike has been on holiday to Alsace on many occasions; indeed all the wines for tonight's tasting had been purchased on his last trip there. This makes a massive difference to the cost - we get so comprehensively bilked by the tax on wine in the UK! It also means that this was an area which Mike knows very well. There is no substitute for the local knowledge which comes from visiting the region.

Also interesting was learning that, as suspected, the rather clean account given in the WSET advanced book about Alsace is not quite the true story. According to the WSET book the only white grapes allowed in Alsace are Riesling, Gewurtztraminer, Muscat and Pinot Gris (the so-called noble varieties) and Sylvaner and Pinot Blanc. No mention is made of the fact that one third of the grapes planted and classified as Pinot Blanc are actually Auxerrois and that Chasselas (which is only mentioned in the very short chapter on Switzerland) is also allowed in the Alsace appellation.

I was also interested to discover that the Alsace Grand Cru system is also more complicated than the WSET course let on. Being true to the history of French wine classification there has been so much controversy associated with this classification system that some of the greatest producers in Alsace (and those who were instrumental in pushing for such a classification system to be set up) do not take any part in the Grand Cru system.

Tasting Notes
1. Dopff au Moulin Cremant d'Alsace 2005
Pale lemon colour, stony, bready and lemony aromas. Fine mousse, good acid, medium body and quite long. Dry and apply on the palate. This is excellent for 9.30 EUR.

2. Muscat Reserve, Cave Vinicole a Hunwihr 2007
Pale gold colour. Very floral (rose petal) and grapey, particularly on the palate. Medium-high body, medium acid and noticeable alcohol. A little short. Good, but not great. 6.20 EUR

3. Josmeyer "H" Pinot Auxerroiss Vielles Vignes 2005
100 % Auxerrois (tasted blind)
This is planted in the middle of the Hengst grand cru vineyard, but cannot be labelled as grand cru because of the grape variety used. Pale lemon, steely, a little residual sugar giving it a honey taste. Medium high body, medium acid. Good, if a little surprising. 17.60 EUR

4. Rene Mure Pinot Noir "V" 2006
Knowing where to put the red wine in an Alsace tasting is quite difficult. Normally one would want to have red wines after white wines. However, the Alsace Pinot Noirs are usually pretty anaemic and pale into insignificance compared to some of the Alsatian white wines. I think that this was the correct place to show this wine.

Pale red, almost a rose colour... and this is apparently quite dark for an Alsace Pinot Noir! Smells like young pinot noir - cherries and raspberries. Dry with high acid. Quite low bodied and very low tannins. Finish is a little acidic. This is OK, but certainly not appropriate quality for the price (23 EUR!). Alsace Pinot Noirs are always expensive because there is strong local demand for red wine and small production. In much the same way that English wine can be OK, but is always over-priced because of the alcoholic local population buying out of a misplaced sense of patriotism. (OK so this doesn't apply to some of the wines - particularly the sparkling wines.)

5. Hugel Gewurtztraminer "Hugel" 2007
Pale lemon green. Lychees on the nose and rose petal, plus some stone fruit and something smoky. High glycerol, medium acid. A little short but quite full bodied. Dry. Pretty good. 12.60 EUR

6. Gewurtztraminer Cave Vinicole a Hunawihr
Grand Cru Froehn 2005
Medium gold colour. A rich nose of dried apricots and honey. Full bodied with excellent length. Well balanced and silky, but with quite low acidity (common in Gewurtz). Dry with moderately high intensity flavours of honey, apricot and something floral. Also, some of the spicy notes for which Gewurtztraminer is named. This is awesome, and well priced at 11.90 EUR

7. Jean Sipp Pinot Gris 2006
This is from a named site - Trottacker, but not a grand cru vineyard. Pale lemon. Quite closed. Stone fruit and minerals are there on the nose but they require searching out (but maybe this is just in comparison to the previous wine). Medium-full body, medium acid and off-dry with noticeable banana flavour. A little 1-dimensional and a bitter finish. This wine has some good parts, but also some weird notes which make me ultimaltely come down on the side of not really liking it. 12.40 EUR

8. Jean Sipp Pinot Gris 2000
Again from a non-grand cru named site - Clos Ribeaupierre.
Medium gold colour. Honeyed nose. And something which reminds me of the petrol aroma which appears on old rieslings. Spicy and toasted notes. Off dry and rich on the palate with apricots, dried fruits and honey. Medium-high acid which cuts through the sweetness. Well balanced with great length and intense flavour intensity. This is so much better than the previous one and well worth the price (24EUR). I'd much rather have one bottle of this than two of the previous one.

9. Trimbach Riesling Cuvee Frederic Emile 2001
Green on the nose, very sour apples. On the palate there is a clean granny smith apple flavour and high acidity. Well balanced. This is great stuff. 24 EUR

10. Hugel Riesling Selection de Grains Nobles 1998
Pale gold, tartrate crystals. Cooked apple and honey. Unctuous, well balanced, full bodied and medium sweet. This is an excellent wine. Pretty pricey too at 76 EUR

11. Hugel Riesling Vendage Tardive 1988
Medium gold. This has an unusual nose. Baked apple, petrol and something which reminds me of an amontillado sherry. Medium body, high acid and surprisingly dry - this is off dry at the most. Maybe a little past its best, but this is still excellent now.