Alsace is protected by the Vosges mountains, which stop the west winds blowing in off the Atlantic dead in their tracks. Understandably, storms are blocked as well, and the western flank of the Vosges get all the rainfall, while the east slopes and points beyond (where the vines are planted) remain quite dry. The growing season is long, with harvest typically not getting underway until mid-October and often lasting into mid-November.

This was the last major wine region to submit to appellation controlée,   More

Alsace is protected by the Vosges mountains, which stop the west winds blowing in off the Atlantic dead in their tracks. Understandably, storms are blocked as well, and the western flank of the Vosges get all the rainfall, while the east slopes and points beyond (where the vines are planted) remain quite dry. The growing season is long, with harvest typically not getting underway until mid-October and often lasting into mid-November.

This was the last major wine region to submit to appellation controlée, in 1962. Twenty-five individual vineyard sites were set aside as deserving of Grand Cru status in 1983, and another 25 sites were so named in 1992. Alsace's Grand Cru classification scheme is far from perfect, however, as the boundaries of some sites are clearly too large, and other sites, in all honesty, probably should not have been elevated to such exalted status at all. Moreover, the designation can legally apply to only four grape varieties: Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Riesling, and Muscat.

Speaking of grape varieties, of all the wine regions in France, it is only Alsace in which the grape type always gets co-billing with geographic origin. Besides the four grapes named above, one also sees Sylvaner, Pinot Blanc, and Pinot Noir. Rieslings are virtually always made in a powerful, dry style, and at their best possess an almost searing minerality. Gewürztraminer, the world's most exotically perfumed wine (think lychee, roses, passion fruit), can be dry, cloyingly sweet, or anything in between. Pinot Gris is almost as exotic, often showing smoky notes of bacon fat, pineapple, and honey, and can range from dry to sweet. Muscat in Alsace is almost invariably bone dry but still displays classic Muscat characteristics such as aromas of flowers and freshly crushed grapes. Pinot Blanc and Sylvaner are relatively neutral by comparison, and we've yet to try an Alsace Pinot Noir that will make the Burgundians nervous.   Less