Alsace wine explained. Four noble grapes on a mosaic of soils.

Where Alsace is and why the climate matters

Alsace is a long, narrow wine region in northeastern France, running along the Rhine valley close to the German border. The region has changed hands between France and Germany several times, and that heritage shows in its timbered villages, its flute-shaped bottles and its habit of naming wines after the grape variety.

The key climatic factor is the Vosges mountains to the west. They create a rain shadow, which makes Alsace one of the driest and sunniest of the classic French wine regions. A long, dry growing season brings the grapes to good ripeness on a regular basis, while cool nights preserve refreshing acidity. That combination of ripe fruit and crisp acidity is a trademark of Alsace wine. The foothills offer ideal slopes and an extraordinary range of soil types, so the region is often described as a mosaic of geologies. More than 90% of production is white.

The four noble grapes and the rest

Alsace is known for four so-called noble varieties. Riesling is usually dry, rich and racy, with lemon, apple and sometimes a spicy, white pepper note. Gewürztraminer is the most explosive, with lychee, rose and honeydew melon. Pinot Gris brings pear, smoky notes and dried apricot, and late-picked versions turn exotic with honey and ginger. Muscat is often made dry here, with the rare aroma of fresh grapes plus white flowers and a peppery touch.

You will also see Pinot Blanc (locally called Clevner), often blended with Auxerrois, as well as Sylvaner, Chasselas and Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir accounts for around a tenth of plantings and was highly prized in the 15th and 16th centuries. The episode makes the case that it deserves rediscovery today.

Reading an Alsace label

The appellation system is fairly simple. Most wine is AOP Alsace, usually from a single grape variety, and when a variety is named on the label the wine must be made 100% from it. At the top sits Alsace Grand Cru: 51 individual sites, each an appellation in its own right, traditionally reserved for the noble white grapes, with only a few minor exceptions. Sparkling wines are labeled Crémant d'Alsace.

The tricky part is sweetness, which producers do not always state. As a rough rule, Pinot Blanc and Sylvaner tend to be the driest, Riesling ranges from bone dry to off-dry, and fully dry Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer are relatively hard to find. Paz Levinson shares a practical shopping tip based on the alcohol level on the label: lower alcohol usually means more residual sugar, while wines of 12.5% or more are likely to taste dry.

Late harvest: Vendanges Tardives and SGN

Two official terms, introduced in 1983, cover the sweet wines. Vendanges Tardives (VT) means late harvest: grapes hang on the vine longer so their sugars concentrate. Sélection de Grains Nobles (SGN) is a step up, made from even riper grapes that are often partly affected by botrytis, or noble rot. Sweetness can vary from producer to producer, but each house keeps its SGN sweeter than its VT. These rarities are easiest to make in sunny years, often from Gewürztraminer.

The vintage experiment, food pairings and blind tastings

In this episode, Peter Richards and Paz Levinson tackle a question every student meets: why does vintage matter? With a flip chart, weather maps and two vintages of the same Riesling from Zind-Humbrecht, they compare the scorching 2003 season with the cool, rainy 2013. See how the same grower, vines and site can produce strikingly different wines.

Alsace is a food region, and the pairings explain why. Paz matches a dry Trimbach Muscat with green asparagus and crisp Serrano ham, a combination Peter did not expect, and later serves a sea bream tartare with wasabi, crème fraîche and lime. There are also two blind tastings in which the hosts talk through color, aroma, sweetness and structure before naming grape and style. Find out how they reason their way to an answer, a useful model for structured tasting notes.