Alsace

184 Pinot Blanc AC 2010
Domaine Léon Boesch

Grape:50% Pinot Blanc, 50% Pinot Auxerrois (13% alc, 3.7g/l of rs)

Bio-dynamic viticulture here for east-facing vines on sandstone and clay. It has clear cut, zesty, peachy fruit. For drinking now to 2012.

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185 Muscat AC 2009
Domaine Dirler-Cadé

Grape:90% Muscat Ottonel, 10% Muscat d’Alsace (12.5% alc, 1g/l of rs)

This is declassified Saering grand cru from juice not quite concentrated enough for the grand cru wine. Lovely aromatic lift to the aromas of citrus fruit and mint, followed by a silky delicacy and ethereal quality on the palate. The perfect aperitif. For drinking now to 2014.

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186 Muscat Saering Grand Cru AC 2008
Domaine Dirler-Cadé

Grape:90% Muscat Ottonel, 10% Muscat d’Alsace (12% alc, 3g/l of rs)

The 34 year old vines here give a very finely sculpted wine. Exquisitely balanced with citrus fruits, hints of verveine and mint and a characteristic sapid, saline note on the finish. For drinking now to 2020+.

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187 Muscat Altenberg de Bergbieten Grand Cru AC 2009
Domaine Fréderic Mochel

Grape:100% Muscat Ottonel (14% alc, 10.1g/l of rs)

This comes from 30 year old vines and is a rich structured wine in 2009. It is a long keeper – the 1988 was outstanding in late 2005! Once the wine gets beyond six years it takes an altogether different guise, revealing layers of complexity that make it one of France’s finest, most surprising and under-rated grape varieties. Available October. For drinking now to 2020+.

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188 Pinot Noir AC 2009 Tradition
Domaine Leon Boesch

Grape:100% Pinot Noir (12% alc.)

30 year old vines here (and 50 hh) produce this delicious pinot noir which is well balanced with crunchy red fruits, well integrated oak and fine tannins. For drinking now to 2012.

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189 Pinot Gris AC 2010
Domaine André Thomas

Grape:100% Pinot Gris (13.5% alc, 9g/l of rs)

Aromas fairly leap out of the glass. It’s a rich yet restrained wine with pear, apples and exotic fruit flavours with a hint of spice. For drinking now to 2013.

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190 Pinot Gris AC 2009
Domaine Fréderic Mochel

Grape:100% Pinot Gris (13% alc, 10g/l of rs)

30 year old vines sited to the north and east of Bergbieten produce this textbook pinot gris – which is clean and very spicy with a touch of limestone minerality. For drinking now to 2013.

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191 Pinot Gris AC 2007 Schimberg
Domaine Dirler-Cadé

Grape:100% Pinot Gris (13.5% alc, 6g/l of rs)

A very good terroir here, with decomposed sandstone and volcanic schists, on a steep west facing hillside. This is a pinot gris with exceptional balance, low residual, attractive typically smoky fruit on the nose and spicy peach fruit on the palate. For drinking now to 2014.

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192 Pinot Gris Kessler Grand Cru AC 2007
Domaine Dirler-Cadé

Grape:100% Pinot Gris (14% alc, 26g/l of rs)

Kessler is a steep, well-sheltered south-east facing vineyard on a bedrock of sandstone well suited to growing pinot gris. 2007 harnessed the power of pinot gris and the wine offers a complex fruit with smoky notes, ginger and praline, and a stony, mineral undertone. For drinking now to 2015.

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193 Riesling AC 2009 Luss
Domaine Léon Boesch

Grape:100% Riesling (12.5% alc, 5.2g/l of rs)

25 year old bio-dynamic vines in a limestone soil give this delicious wine, whose ripe citrus fruits (hints of mandarin and apricot) are cosseted by a delicate acidity with a saline hint on the long finish. For drinking now to 2013.

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194 Riesling AC 2009
Domaine Fréderic Mochel

Grape:100% Riesling (12.5% alc, 3g/l of rs)

This stands out from the crowd of village rieslings as it comes from younger vines of the grand cru Altenberg de Bergbieten. It’s a wine of some substance with a good weight of appley, peachy fruit. For drinking now to 2012.

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195 Riesling Altenberg de Bergbieten Grand Cru AC 2007
Domaine Fréderic Mochel

Grape:100% Riesling (12.5% alc, 5g/l of rs)

Mochel’s grand cru comes from vines planted high up on the hillside and closer to the rock. It has a sumptuous concentration, is bone dry with great purity of fruit, and real terroir identity. For drinking now to 2017.

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196 Riesling Saering Grand Cru AC 2007
Domaine Dirler-Cadé

Grape:100% Riesling (13% alc, 3g/l of rs)

The 20 year old bio-dynamically tended vines are planted to the west of Saering near Kitterlé with a south-east aspect in a sandy marl with limestone deep below. The wine has a beautiful colour with greeny glints, and the nose is restrained and mineral. The palate is mouthwateringly pure and sapid with lemon and lime-zest, a hint of ginger and spice, and a saline note on a finish that keeps on going. For drinking now to 2020.

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197 Riesling Geisberg Grand Cru AC 2004
Domaine André Kientzler

Grape:100% Riesling (13% alc, 3g/l of rs)

This exceptional wine comes from 40-50 year old vines on the dramatically steep, terraced and walled clos of Geisberg. It has rich fruit, is densely structured but as ever bone dry, with intense, mineral flavours. For drinking now to 2024.

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198 Gewurztraminer AC 2010
Domaine Léon Boesch

Grape:100% Gewurztraminer (14% alc, 29g/l of rs)

Boesch’s Gewurztraminer shows the brilliant side of this grape when it is restrained by enough acidity. It beguiles with its rose, blackcurrant and red fruit aromas, has good weight with freshness on the palate, and a gently spicy finish. For drinking now to 2013.

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199 Gewurztraminer AC 2010
Domaine André Thomas

Grape:100% Gewurztraminer (13.5% alc, 25g/l of rs)

The aromas and tastes of this exceptional wine combine ripe mangoes, jasmine tea, lychees, flowers and rose water. Exotic with a capital E! Limited quantity. For drinking now to 2013.

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200 Gewurztraminer AC 2007 Bux
Domaine Dirler-Cadé

Grape:100% Gewurztraminer (14% alc, 20g/l of rs)

Bux is a vineyard planted just below the grand cru of Spiegel. This is excellent gewurztraminer with typical aroma of rose petal and spice but nicely controlled, with an old vine depth of fruit and welcome acidity. For drinking now to 2013.

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*New* 201 Gewurztraminer Kitterlé Grand Cru AC 2007
Domaine Dirler-Cadé

Grape:100% Gewurztraminer (14% alc, 40g/l of rs)

Kitterlé has produced a very well balanced wine in 2007. The bouquet offers a complex mix of wild rose, apricots, pineapple and spice. There is very good depth to the fruit that is leavened by a well integrated acidity. For drinking now to 2017.

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*New* 202 Gewurztraminer Mambourg Grand Cru AC 2009
Domaine André Thomas

Grape:100% Gewurztraminer (13.5% alc, 50g/l of rs)

Mambourg grand cru is an early ripening, south-facing hillside with limestone and magnesium topsoil. Thomas’ vines are 30 years old and give aromas of rose, exotic fruits and spices. On the palate it has a sumptuous concentration but the fruit is cosseted and restrained by a complex minerality. A wine of meditation! Also perfect with foie gras. For drinking now to 2016.

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*New* 203 Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives AC 2007
Domaine André Thomas

Grape:100% Gewurztraminer (14% alc, 60g/l of rs)

This excellent vendanges tardives comes from the lieu dit of Altenbourg in Kientzheim where 50 year old vines are planted in a soil of limestone clay. The silky yet intense fruit has notes of lexia raisins, honey, ripe mango. The natural sugars are perfectly integrated and it is drinking very well now. For drinking now to 2017+.

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204 Crémant d’Alsace AC Brut
Domaine Dirler-Cadé

Grape:40% Pinot Gris, 40% Pinot Auxerrois, 20% Pinot Noir (12.5% alc.)

An excellent dry (dosage of 5g/l) sparkling wine from the 2007 vintage made by the méthode champenoise. Zesty and sapid with a delicate fruit, this makes for excellent party fizz and real value alternative to champagne.

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Alsace

Dirler-Cadé are one of Alsace’s leading domaines making brilliant, tightly structured wines. Based in Bergholtz in the southern half of Alsace south of Colmar, the marriage of Jean Dirler and Ludivine Cadé and the union of the two domaines practically doubled the size to the current 17 hectares. They were early convertees to biodynamic viticulture back in 1998 (now certified ‘Biodyvin’).They have a fine cluster of grand crus near Guebwiller but we have largely sided with Saering which gives bracingly pure, mineral, elegant wines. The terroir here slipped down the hillside from the grand cru Kessler millions of years ago and extends like a peninsula over the plain forming the shape of a ring. The vines are planted on a gentle slope with a south-east aspect and the soil is a complex mix of marl, sandstone with limestone at depth. The wines here retain a beautiful freshness and acidity, thanks to the limestone, and don’t have the power and weight of Kessler higher up the hillside. Because the soil in Saering is deep and rich, the vines are slightly more vigorous and according to Jean you find this in the energy of the wines.

The 13 hectare Domaine Léon Boesch is run by Mathieu Boesch and his parents in Soultzmatt at the southern end of Alsace (4km north of Dirler-Cadé). The vines have been tended bio-dynamically since 1999 and finally qualified for Demeter status in 2008. Yeasts are indigenous and the malolactic fermentations are allowed to occur spontaneously rather than being blocked with sulphur post fermentation. Mathieu believes there is a better exchange between the fine lees and wine without the interraction of sulphur. The wines are very clean with terrific fruit, texture, tension, minerality and length.

Frédéric and Guillaume Mochel have ten hectares of vines near Traenheim in the Bas-Rhin, 50 km to the north of Thomas’ vineyards in Ammerschwihr. The Mochels vinify dry as they consider this style of wine goes much better with food, and the slightly cooler northern climate helps in this respect. Their best wines are from the grand cru hillside of Altenberg de Bergbieten with soils over marls, limestones and dolomites which add extra complexity to the wines.

François Thomas’ wines are ripe with good fruit and terroir definition, a nice fresh balancing acidity, with neither too much alcohol or residual sugar. His work in the vineyard is meticulous – all his wines are certified organic and he even uses a horse to plough between the vine rows on the steep hillside of Kaefferkopf.

André Kientzler’s riesling Geisberg is one of the best sited vineyards in the whole of Alsace. A walled clos on a steep south facing hillside calling for acrobatic skills from the vigneron, the soils are a mix of limestone, marl and sandstone. Almost painfully mineral and taut in its youth, Geisberg ages magnificently for 25 years and more.