All About Alsace Flashcards
Throughout the entire Middle Ages, Alsace was a province of the ________?
Germanic Holy Roman Empire
True or False In 1639, French armies invade/seized a majority of the region of Alsace to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Spanish Hapsburgs house, a branch of Europe’s most powerful dynasty.
True-It was known as Thirty Years’ War
The Treaty of Westphalia concluded the war in 1648 and cemented France’s ownership of Alsace until Germany claimed the territory with Lorraine at the conclusion of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. T or F
True
As the abdication of Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm brought the end of World War I, but French troops quickly moved on Alsace-_____ and its capitol, Strasbourg, and re-incorporated the region into the country within a month. Despite a short occupation by Nazi Germany in the early 1940s, Alsace remains French.
Lorraine
Winegrowing in Alsace dates to the first millennium. How many Alsatian villages were growing the vine by the year 1000, a trend that peaked in the 16th century.
160
The brutal Thirty Years’ War demolished winegrowing in the region and the political instability of the following 300 years repressed the resurgence of the vine. French control following World War I reasserted viticulture in Alsace, with the first vineyards in year _____.
1945
What year also marks the beginning of a divergence in French and German wine-making styles; German wines remained classically sweet, whereas Alsace producers fermented to dryness for a more powerful and food-friendly wine.
1945
In 1962, Alsace finally achieved AOC status—the last major French wine-making region to do so. T or F
True
Alsace, France’s smallest région, is divided into two départements, _____ and _____?
départements:Haut-Rhin(generally the premier wines) and Bas-Rhin
This division provides a useful convention for quality of wine: generally the premier wines originate in the _____, and over two-thirds of Alsace’s Grand Cru vineyards are located in the département.
Haut- Rhin
Geographically, Alsace is separated from the remainder of France by the_____ Mountains in the west. The mountains provide a _____ effect; Alsace is one of France’s driest and sunniest climates.
Vosges; “rain shadow”
_____, capital of the Haut-Rhin département, is the driest city in France.
Colmar
The better vineyards enjoy southern, southeastern, or warm eastern exposures to maximize sunlight. What is the climate of Alsace wine region?
semi-continental climate
However, despite its northerly location, Alsatian vines typically ripen with greater regularity than those in the Loire or northern Burgundy, due to the sheer number of sunlight hours in the summertime. T or F
True
Alsatian vineyards have a myriad of soil types. The land is a geologic mosaic of what soils: granite, limestone, schist, clay, gravel, chalk, loess, and the local pink sandstone, _______can be found throughout the region.
grés de Vosges
Although the soil structure varies greatly from village to village, the steeper mountain slopes are generally composed of ____, _____ and _____ sediment. The lower slopes sit on a limestone base, and the plain at the base of the mountains consists of richer alluvial clay and gravel soils. Reflection on soil type is critical in consideration of the appropriate grape variety.
schist, granite and volcanic sediment
In Alsace, white grapes are paramount, and___% of AOP wine is white.
90%
Despite the presence of Pinot Noir, the four “noble” grapes of Alsace include? These grapes occupy the premier sites and are, with minor exceptions, the only grapes planted in the region’s grand cru vineyards.
Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer and Muscat (either Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, Muscat Rosé à Petits Grains or Muscat Ottonel)
The region’s main appellation—Alsace AOP, or Vin d’Alsace AOP—allows the aforementioned noble grapes to be bottled varietally. Name the four.
Pinot Blanc (Klevner), Chasselas (Gutedel), Sylvaner, and Pinot Noir
Alsace wines generally state the variety on the label. With the exception of Pinot Blanc, which is often blended with the similar but not synonymous Auxerrois, all varietally labeled Alsace AOP wines must contain 100% of the printed grape. T or F
True Even if bottled as a single variety, Auxerrois may be accorded the title of “Pinot Blanc” on the label. White wines simply labeled “Pinot,” on the other hand, may contain any proportion of related varieties: Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Auxerrois.
When considered collectively, ______and _____represent the largest volume of appellation production.
Pinot Blanc and Auxerrois
______ is the most planted grape and Alsace’s last noble grape to ripen.
Riesling
Alsatian Rieslings are characteristically____, more powerful, and ____ in alcohol than their German cousins. They are amongst the longest- lived dry whites in the world, due to a pronounced acidity and minerality.
dry; higher
Alsatian AOP law mandates, from the year ___ forward, that standard Riesling wines must be dry in style. Pinot Gris, formerly called Tokay d’Alsace or Tokay Pinot Gris, is perhaps Alsace’s quintessential wine.
2008
Gewurztraminer is a pink-berried clone of the traditional grape _____, and steadily replaced it in Alsace’s vineyards throughout the latter half of the 19th century.
Traminer
Another pink variant of Traminer—known as___ in the Jura retains a few plantings around the commune of Heiligenstein in the Bas-Rhin; the grape is known locally as Klevener. This Savagnin Rose, or Klevener de Heiligenstein, is less intensely aromatic than Gewurztraminer but higher in acidity.
Savagnin
