Alsace is in the far north-eastern corner of France and is noted for its excellent white wines. It is the only AOC region in France that is allowed to produce wines designated by the name of the grape variety from which they are produced. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Hugel family gained an enviable reputation for their winegrowing skills and for the meticulous way in which they cultivated their vineyards. While it's typical for one of the wine world's most northern climates to produce vintages of distinct character, the latest stands out, delivering some of the lowest yields in the last 30 years, extremely high acidity levels and healthy fruit harvested at high ripeness levels. The bouquet is very aromatic with white peach, fresh almond, green apple and floral notes. The wine is dry on the palate, fresh and well balanced, with a supple finish.

Traditional wine making: grapes harvested at perfect ripeness, one or two weeks of alcoholic fermentation under controlled temperatures. The wine is then racked, filtered and bottled. Pale yellow with green glints, discreet aromas of stewed fruits finishing on the palate with good length.

The spice of Alsace and one of Famille Hugel's signature wines. It is both aromatic and extroverted through its floral and spicy notes. Gewurztraminer is an invitation to accompany a variety of spicy Asian dishes as well as smoked salmon and strong cheeses. Famille Hugel was established in 1639 by Hans Ulrich Hugel and is one of the regions most loved producers and largest landholders with in excess of 120 hectares of vineyards to their name. Situated in Riquewihr the estate has over the years built an enviable reputation for the consistency and quality of its wines. The Hugel label wines are the companies negoce offerings, the Tradition range is often a blend of purchased and estate grown fruit and the Jubilee range comes solely from the estates own vineyards. The Vendange Tardive and Selection de Grains Nobles wines from the domaine are considered to be some of the finest in Alsace.

Biodynamic. The standard of Weinbach’s Pinot has gone through the roof. There are now five single-vineyard Pinots in the range. The Clos des Capucins bottling leans towards early-ish drinking, with quality pitched towards the village-level wines of Burgundy. Stylistically, it can equally resemble the high-grown Pinots from the Jura or even the best German Pinots as much as those of the Côte d’Or. The fruit fermented spontaneously with 20% bunches and spent about 20 days on skins. It was raised in mature Burgundy barrels for 14 months before being bottled unfiltered. The result is a beautiful expression of Pinot Noir, combining subtle tannins, refreshing texture and a mouth-watering, powdery close. This is very, very good—a unique and terrific alternative to Burgundy.

Biodynamic. Dry. In Alsace, the term Pinot Blanc is used to describe varietal wines or blends containing any percentage of Auxerrois. Weinbach’s Pinot Blanc is a blend of 70% Auxerrois and 30% Pinot Blanc. For fellow nerds, recent DNA studies indicate Auxerrois is a cross between Gouais Blanc and Pinot Noir. Weinbach’s blend comes from Clos des Capucins (with 45-year-old vines) and a plot from the limestone/clay soils at the foot of the Altenbourg vineyard. As with the dry Rieslings, the Pinot Blanc was pressed as whole bunches and raised over eight months in large-format wood (previous vintages were raised in tank). It's a far more layered and complex wine than you might expect from these varieties. It’s fleshy and mouth-filling with orchard fruits, white blossom and chamomile flavours and a textural core threaded through with punchy freshness. As with all these 2022s, it’s very hard to drink slowly!

Biodynamic. Eddy Faller explains that his Altenbourg Pinot Noir exhibits a more velvety structure than the Schlossberg-raised wine (below). To highlight each wine’s origins, the winemaking is almost identical, with a 10-day cold soak, followed by up to two weeks on skins, partial whole-bunch fermentation and extended aging in predominantly old oak. Plantings are 10,000 vines per hectare using mass selections from the Clos des Epeneaux in Pommard. To recycle Pigott’s line for the 2020 release, ‘In a blind tasting you could easily mistake this for a top 1er Cru wine from Beaune in Burgundy!’

This wine is named after this Schlossberg lieu-dit’s cadastral name, Au Château. The building referenced in the name is the iconic Château de Kaysersberg, whose ruins preside over the town and lie a stone’s throw from the western boundary of the Schlossberg Grand Cru. With precious few bottles, we have yet to taste this release. However, Eddy Faller explains that the granitic soils give this bottling a more linear and ‘smoky’ mineral style compared to the rounder, more supple limestone-raised Altenbourg. Cropped from steeply terraced, pre-clonal era 1960s vines, it was fermented with 20% bunches and aged for two years in Burgundian barrels (20% new); Pigott’s note below reflects a terrific year for Alsace Pinot and the great strides Weinbach has made under the current generation

Add a touch of France to your Friday night get-together with this classic Alsatian style pinot gris. Its rich palate with residual sweetness is well‑balanced by the fresh greenery and lightly roasted vegetables in this delicious warm salad. The floral aromatics and lightly toasted bread on the nose of this wine compliment the garlic and onion flavours of this outstanding dish.

The Lorentz family has been making wine since 1836 in the heart of the Alsace. Light gold yellow with an intense, fresh nose of citrus fruits and refined complexity. A frank and pure attack on the palate with nice balance, strong fruitiness and a dry and elegant finish. A great Pinot Blanc with wonderful fruit, very approachable. As the name suggests, perfect with seafood.