Alsace Flashcards
Throughout the entire Middle Ages, Alsace was a province of…?
the Germanic Holy Roman Empire
In 1648, the conclusion of the 30 years war cemented France’s ownership of Alsace and was cemented by which treaty?
The Treaty of Westphalia
The French-Habsburg (Spanish) rivalry catapulted the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) in Europe from a localized German religious dispute into a general European war for political dominance.
In 1639, French armies seized a majority of the region of Alsace to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Spanish Habsburgs. 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.
When did Alsace-Lorraine experience a very brief time of total independence?
Alsace-Lorraine enjoyed an extremely brief period of total independence as the abdication of Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm brought the end of World War I, but French troops quickly moved on Alsace-Lorraine 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.
What is the capitol of Alsace?
Strasbourg
When were vines first grown in Alsace?
Vine growing in Alsace dates back to the first millenium and peaked in the 16th century prior to the 30 years war (1618-1648).
In the following 300 years political instability suppressed the growing of vines.
French control after WWI reasserted vine growing, but it wasn’t until 1945 until it really took off.
1945 was also the year where clear divergences in French and German winemaking styles appeared.
German wines remained classically sweet, whereas Alsace producers fermented to dryness for a more powerful and food-friendly wine.
When did Alsace achieve AOC status?
1962 - The last major wine region to achieve status
Alsace is Frances smallest region. It is divided into which two departments?
Haut-Rhin and Bas- Rhin
This division provides a useful convention for quality of wine: generally the premier wines originate in the Haut-Rhin, and over two-thirds of Alsace’s Grand Cru vineyards are located in the département.
What mountains cast a rain shadow for Alsace?
Vosges Mountains
The mountains provide a “rain shadow” effect; Alsace is one of France’s driest and sunniest climates. Colmar, capital of the Haut-Rhin département, is the driest city in France.
How are Alsace’s better vineyards situated?
The better vineyards enjoy southern, southeastern, or warm eastern exposures to maximize sunlight. 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.
What is grés de Vosges?
The local pink sandstone that can be found throughout the region
What soil types are found in Alsace?
Many soil types are found in Alsace: granite, limestone, schist, clay, gravel, chalk, loess, and the local pink sandstone—grés de Vosges
The steeper mountain slopes are generally composed of schist, granite and volcanic 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.
What percentage of the Alsace AOP is dedicated to white grapes?
90%
What are the 4 noble grapes of Alsace?
Riesling
Pinot Gris
Muscat (either Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, Muscat Rosé à Petits Grains or Muscat Ottonel)
Gewurztraminer
These 4 noble grapes occupy the premier sites and are, with minor exceptions, the only grapes planted in the region’s grand cru vineyards.
The region’s main appellation—Alsace AOP, or Vin d’Alsace AOP—allows the noble grapes and which others to be bottled varietally?
Chasselas (Gutedel)
Sylvaner
Pinot Noir
Pinot Blanc (Klevner) - pinot blanc is an exception and is often blended with Auxerrois
Pinot Blanc is generally blended with which grape in Alsace?
Pinot Blanc is often blended with the similar but not synonymous Auxerrois.
What percentage of a grape must be included in a varietally labeled Alsace AOP wine?
100%
In Alsace, a white wine simply labeled “Pinot,” may contain any proportion of which related varieties?
Pinot Noir
Pinot Blanc
Pinot Gris
Auxerrois.
Even if bottled as a single variety, Auxerrois may be accorded the title ________ on the label
Pinot Blanc
Which is Alsace’s most planted grape?
Riesling
How do Alsatian Rieslings differ to German rieslings?
Alsatian Rieslings are characteristically dry, more powerful, and higher in alcohol than their German cousins. They are amongst the longest- lived dry whites in the world, due to a pronounced acidity and minerality.
With sweetness creeping steadily upward in recent years, Alsatian AOP law mandates, from 2008 forward, that standard Riesling wines must be dry in style.
Formerly called Tokay d’Alsace, this varietal is perhaps Alsace’s most quintessential wine.
Pinot Gris - the grape here achieves its fullest, richest expression, with spicy-smoky qualities and a frame solid–though hardly high– acidity.
How would you describe Muscat and Gewurztraminer?
Muscat and Gewurztraminer are both highly aromatic.
Muscat shows fragrant floral and grapy notes.
Gewurztraminer tends toward perfumed, sweet spices and tropical fruit.
Both are lower in acidity, but Gewurztraminer is higher in alcohol and more likely to be off-dry. New oak is usually not a factor in the vinification of these varieties, although many producers use large neutral casks for fermentation and aging.
Does Muscat and/or Gewurztraminer see wood?
Often times, old wood. Rarely new wood.
Name two clones of the traditional grape Traminer
Gewurztraminer - planted in Alsatian vineyards in the mid 19th century
Savagnin - planted in the Jura region and 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.
Which 5 Alsatian communes can bottle Klevener varietally?
Heiligenstein Bourgheim Gertwiller Goxwiller Obernai.
What does Edelzwicker indicate on a label?
Edelzwicker means “noble mixture” but usually indicates its own inverse: an inexpensive blended wine.
Alsace AOP wines labeled Edelzwicker do not need to be vintage-dated, nor are they even legally obligated to contain more than one grape.
In practice they are blends, however, and do not need to indicate any percentages or grapes on the label.
What does “Gentil” indicate on a wine label?
“Gentil” is a superior designation for blends, requiring a minimum of 50% noble grapes.
Any other Alsace AOP grape may compose the remainder, and the base wines must be vinified separately.
What is the minimum percentage of noble grapes required in a “Gentil” labeled bottle?
50% minimum noble grapes
When are the wines blended together in a Gentil blending?
The wines are vilified separately and blended after vinification.
When producers create field blends, when are the wines blended together?
The grapes are cofermented
When was Alsace Grand Cru AOP first instate? To which vineyard?
1975
Schlossberg
What is the 51st grand cru of Alsaces added in 2007?
Kaefferkopf
What grapes are produces under Alsace Grand Cru?
Only noble varieties - generally as varietal bottlings. It used to be law to bottle varietally but is no longer the case
The grands crus Altenberg de Bergheim and Kaefferkopf may blend according to certain prescribed proportions.
Zotzenberg Grand Cru AOP is a historical site for which un-noble grape, and thus is allowed to produce it?
Sylvaner
What are the requiurements for Alsatian grand cru vineyards?
Hand-harvesting is mandatory for all grand cru wines.
Minimum sugar levels at harvest are higher than those for Alsace AOP, and yields are more restricted.
The minimum potential alcohol is:
11% for Riesling and Muscat
12.5% for Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer
Although certain vineyards mandate higher amounts.
In 2011 what changed in the Alsace Grand Cru system
The system went from having 1 grand cru appellation, with noted vineyards in it to 51 grand crus as each vineyard received its own appellation and cahier des charges, pivoting from the Chablis model to that of the Côte d’Or.
Which is the largest grand cru in Alsace?
Schlossberg at 80 hectares
Kanzlerberg is the smallest at 3 hectares
In 1984 what two name indications were created for Alsatian sweet wines?
Vendanges Tardives and Sélections de Grains Nobles.
These two terms imply sweetness and may be printed on either Alsace AOP or Alsace Grand Cru AOP labels, provided the wines contain a single, noble variety and pass a blind tasting panel.
Grapes destined for Sélection de Grains Nobles are generally picked in tries, and suppress varietal character in return for the complexities of botrytis.
Vendanges Tardives, on the other hand, may show botrytis character but emphasizes varietal purity.
What does grapes picked in “tries” mean?
Tries are several successives passes at grape harvesting.
It is the selection process that uses multiple passes to pick extra ripe grapes from vineyards. During the ripening process, the moisture from the grapes evaporates and a concentrated form of the wine components in the grapes is harvested to create sweet wine.
Are Vendagnes Tardives (VT) and Sélections de Grains Nobles (SGN) wines required to be sweet?
No.
VT and SGN wines are not obligated by statute to be sweet; in practice SGN wines are always dessert-like but VT wines may vary in actual sugar, and can be quite dry.
What does passerillage mean?
Passerillage is the French term for the process of drying grapes so their flavors and sugar become concentrated
What are the minimum sugar levels for Vendagnes Tardives?
244 g/liter - Muscat and Riesling
270 g/liter - Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer
Vendanges Tardives requires a minimum of 244 grams per liter for Muscat and Riesling, and 270 grams per liter for Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer.
VT and SGN wines must be hand harvested
What are the minimum sugar levels for Sélection de Grains Nobles
276 g/liter - Muscat and Riesling
306 g/liter - Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer
Sélection de Grains Nobles requires 276 grams per liter for Muscat and Riesling and 306 grams per liter for Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer. At 306 grams per liter, these wines are amongst the highest minimum must weights in France.
VT and SGN wines must be hand harvested
What is the only red varietal permitted in Alsace AOP wines?
Pinot Noir
Light red and rosé wines are the result, although the wines can achieve depth in warmer vintages.
What is the only appellation in Alsace to produce from Chardonnay?
Cremant de Alsace AOP
What grapes can be used in Cremant de Alsace AOP?
Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay; Riesling, Pinot Gris and Auxerrois
Pinot Noir may contribute to the Crémant d’Alsace AOP blend, although Pinot Blanc is the workhorse for these sparkling wines.
Rosé versions of Crémant d’Alsace are solely made from Pinot Noir, gaining color either from maceration or from the saignée method.
Crémant d’Alsace is the only appellation in the region to allow Chardonnay; Riesling, Pinot Gris and Auxerrois are also authorized.
Sparkling wine production has developed into a profitable and expansive pursuit for Alsatian houses, commanding nearly a quarter-share of the appellation’s output.
How are rose versions Cremant de Alsace wines made?
Made from 100% pinot noir either by maceration or saignee method
What region is the Côtes de Toul AOP located in and what types of wines doe they produce?
The Côtes de Toul AOP is located in Lorraine.
Light red wines are produced from Pinot Noir and white wines contain Auxerrois and Aubin.
Rosé wines, made in a pale vin gris style, include a high proportion of Gamay and Pinot Noir.
Where is the small Moselle AOP located?
The small Moselle AOP is located in Lorraine.
It was upgraded from VDQS in 2011 and produces red, white, and rosé wines, principally from Auxerrois and Pinot Noir.
Varietally-labelled Müller-Thurgau and Pinot Gris are also allowed. As the Moselle River flows north from France, it forms the border between Luxemburg and Germany.
Domaine Zind-Humbrecht uses an “indice” on their wine labels to refer to?
Residual Sweetness
Which are the two types of Muscat allowed in Alsace grand cru production?
Muscat Blanc/rose a petits grains
Muscat Ottonel
SGN wines emphasize which characteristic in the final wine?
Botrytis Influence
Can Alsatian grand cru wines be chaptalized?
Yes
Can Alsatian grand cru vineyards produce non-grand cru wine?
Yes (Declassified)
Which producer produces cuvée st Catherine a Riesling from the Schlossberg grand cru vineyard?
Weinbach
What is the capital of the Haut Rhin department?
Colmar
What is maximum yield of pressed wine in liters from 150 kg of grapes in Crémant d’Alsace AOP?
100
Wines labelled “Edelzwicker” may be made from a single variety.
True
Though generally this indicates a blend of not-necessarily noble grapes
“Cuvée Frédéric Emile” by Trimbach is a blend of which two grand cru vineyards?
Geisberg
Osterberg
Between 2003-2007 which was the most highly regarded vintage in Alsace?
2005 and 2007 are both highly regarded
What is the maximum yield for Alsatian grand cru wines?
55hl/ha
Gamay may be present up to a maximum ____% in the vin gris wines of Côtes de Toul AOP.
85
White wines from the Moselle AOP are based primarily on which grape?
Auxxerois
Muller Thurgau
Approximately what percentage of Alsatian wine is released as grand cru?
4%
Which are Altenberg de Berghein’s blending stipulations?
50-70% Riesling
10-25% Pinot gris
10-25% Gewürztraminer
Up to 10% total of Muscat Ottonel, Muscat blanc à petits grains, Muscat rosé à petits gra
What are Kaefferkopf’s blending stipulations (percentages allowed per grape?)
60-80% Gewürztraminer
10-40% Riesling,
0-30% Pinot gris
Up to 10% total of Pinot blanc, Pinot noir, Muscat Ottonel, Muscat blanc à petits grains, Muscat rosé à petits grains, Chassela
Who produces Clos does Capucins?
Weinbach
How produces Clos Rebberg?
Marc Kregdenweiss
Who produces Clos de la Faille
Albert Mann
Who produces Clos Hauserer?
Zinc-Humbrecht
What is Klevner a synonym for?
Pinot Blanc
What is the only permitted grape in Marc d’Alsace?
Gewürztraminer
Albert Mann’s Les Saintes Claires is produced using which grape?
Pinot Noir
Alsace produces approximately what % of France’s total AOC production?
18%
Which producer owns the most hectares of grand cru vineyards in Alsace?
Domaine Schlumberger
What domaine’s top wines are labeled as “Jubilee?”
Hugel
