Winelingo
Alsace whites are aromatic and mostly dry, with pure, vivid fruit and bright acidity: floral, citrus-and-orchard-fruit Riesling; exotic, rose-and-lychee-scented Gewurztraminer; and richer, spicy Pinot Gris. Little to no oak keeps the flavours clean and focused.
How Alsace wine tastes
Alsace is all about aromatic white wine that leaps out of the glass. The wines are usually unoaked, fermented in neutral vessels so nothing gets between you and the pure flavour of the grape, which is exactly the point here.
The style changes a lot by grape. Riesling is the region’s noble benchmark: dry, taut and mineral, with lime, green apple and a bracing streak of acidity that keeps it fresh and precise. Gewurztraminer is the showstopper, richly perfumed with rose petals, lychee and exotic spice, fuller-bodied and only just dry. Pinot Gris sits in between, broad and textured, with smoky, honeyed orchard-fruit richness.
One thing worth knowing: not every Alsace wine is bone dry. Sweetness varies from producer to producer and isn’t always stated on the label, so a Gewurztraminer or Pinot Gris can taste off-dry. When in doubt, ask, or lean on Riesling, which is almost always dry.
Signature styles & what to look for
Alsace makes it easy in one way: unusually for France, wines are labelled by grape variety, so the bottle simply says Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris and so on.
The quality ladder is worth learning. Standard Alsace AOC covers everyday bottlings. Alsace Grand Cru comes from 51 named top vineyards and marks the most prestigious, site-expressive wines. For sweeter styles made from late-picked grapes, look for Vendanges Tardives (late harvest, richer and often off-dry to sweet) and the rarer, lusciously sweet Sélection de Grains Nobles (from nobly-rotted grapes). For fizz, Crémant d’Alsace is the region’s traditional-method sparkling wine and excellent value.
The grapes & the land
The stars are the so-called noble grapes: Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris and Muscat, joined by the gentler, everyday Pinot Blanc and the region’s one significant red, Pinot Noir.
Tucked in the rain shadow of the Vosges mountains, Alsace is one of France’s driest and sunniest regions. The mountains block the rain clouds, so grapes ripen fully while cool nights preserve that hallmark acidity and perfume. The other secret is the soil: an extraordinary patchwork of granite, limestone, schist, sandstone and clay, which is why neighbouring grand cru vineyards can taste so different from one another.