Alsace Breakdown Flashcards
The Growing Environment and Grape Growing
Despite its northerly location it has a warm, sunny and unusually dry climate due to the protection of the Vosges mountains to the west. The region produces mainly white wine (90 per cent), overwhelmingly from single grape varieties and unoaked.
Alsace finally returned to France in 1945 and at that point adopted the AOC system.
northerly latitude results in a long growing season and Alsace’s location inland gives a continental climate. 600 mm of rain per year. However, the rain is spread throughout the year with wettest months in summer (August) and the driest normally during harvest (September and October).
The best vineyards are often at 200– 250 m of altitude and some at higher altitudes, up to 450 m. Lesser quality vineyards are typically on the plain between the foothills and the Rhine river.
the main varieties grown are Riesling, Pinot Blanc/Auxerrois
(either variety can be labelled as Pinot Blanc) Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir (only black grape allowed for AOC wines), then Sylvaner.
The noble varieties are Riesling (cold hardy, buds late, ripens late, maintains quality at high yields), Gewurztraminer (early budding, early ripening, rapidly accumulates sugar), Pinot Gris (early budding early ripening, can rapidly increase in sugar levels and a drop in acidity) and Muscat (blanc a petit grains and ottonel). These 4 are the only grapes permitted for grand cru wines and regulated wine styles such as Vendange tardive and Sélection de grains nobles.
most common form of training is single or double Guyot, as required by AOC regulations. The fruit zone is typically trained higher than in other regions at 1–1.2 m above the ground to reduce the risk from frost. Typical planting density is 4,400–4,800 vines per hectare, with less dense planting on the valley floor and denser planting on slopes.
Styles range from sparkling through to late-picked and botrytis-affected wines
Winemaking
Most wines are made from single varieties and the aim of winemaking is to preserve primary fruit character. Pre-fermentation skin contact or simply keeping the pressed grapes for longer in the press is practiced by some producers to extract flavour molecules and add to the texture of the wine. Cool fermentation temperatures are used for Muscat, Riesling and Sylvaner, while mid-range temperatures are more likely to be used for Gewurztraminer.
Chaptalization ok. The maximum yield for Alsace AOC white wines is ranges from 80 hL/ha for Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer, 90 hL/ha for Riesling and 100 hL/ha for Pinot Blanc. 60hl/ha for Pinot noir.
Both Alsace AOC and the grands crus can append Vendange tardive or Sélection de grains nobles on the label. These wines can only be made solely from the four ‘noble’ varieties. High minimum sugar levels at harvest are required (230-300+). There is no requirement for Vendange tardive to have botrytis-affected fruit or to be sweet. Minimum sugar levels at harvest give about 14–15% abv if fermented dry. By contrast, Sélection de grains nobles must be made from botrytis-affected grapes and be sweet.
Appellations, Wine Law and Regulations
Within Alsace AOC it is possible to add the name of one of thirteen communes, or a lieu-dit. In these cases, maximum yields for white wines are reduced to 72 and 68 hL/ha respectively. The maximum yield for Alsace Pinot Noir AOC is 60 hL/ha.
The category of grand cru was introduced in 1975 and is normally restricted to single variety wines from one of the so-called ‘noble’ varieties. Well known grands crus include Rangen, Geisberg and Schoenenbourg. Since 2011, each of the 51 grand cru vineyards has become an individual grand cru. This will allow individual grand crus to vary their own rules
Wine Business
The average vineyard holding is low at under 3.5 ha with the result that many growers sell grapes to co-operatives or larger wineries. Over 40 per cent of sales is by co-operatives that have a reputation for high quality wines
75 per cent of the wine is sold in France.4 The top export markets are the rest of the EU
Alsace is notable for the number of domaines that produce many or even all available still styles – dry, off-dry, Vendange Tardive and Sélection de Grains Nobles – from four or more varieties and with up to four quality levels. This means that 20–35 bottlings for medium to larger size domaines is normal.
