Straw yellow with elegant green-silver tints. The nose is very delicate, dominated by lime and grapefruit. The attack shows the same flavours, along with great body and balance.

A creamy textured and warmly complex Alsatian Pinot Gris from the French side of the Rhine valley This example from Domaines Schlumberger is from their 'Prince Abbes' which they like to think of as being their '2nd wines' in Bordeaux terms. Most of the fruit comes from their Schimberg vineyards. It's a wine that successfully pulls off the elusive trick of being rich and intense yet refreshing, with incredible finesse all at the same time. It also has satisfying hints of spice, honeyed citrus and lychee leading up to the weighty finish. It's certainly a pedigree wine from an acknowledged expeert producer.

Located in Alsace’s Haut-Rhin village of Rorschwihr, near Ribeauvillé, lies the family Domaine of Rolly-Gassmann, whose roots date back to 1661. Their Terroir des Chateau Forts is made from a blend of biodynamically grown grapes, namely Auxerrois, Gewürztraminer, Riesling and Pinot Gris. Aromatic and rich, it displays aromas of pear, melons, peaches and lychee. Complex on the palate with delicate rose flavours underpinned by lychee fruit and balancing acidity.

The soils of Goldert Grand Cru and Jurassic limestone marl, the same as in southern Jura. This is a stunning wine. Floral, pretty, aromas at first, then a hint of peach yoghurt, and a final menthol, eucalyptus whiff. On the palate alongside these explosive flavours there is some charming toastiness and salinity. This salinity goes hand in hand with the acidity to create a wine of precision and balance. The Goldert Muscat has remarkable ageing potential. We were lucky enough to taste the 1964 at the winery. An intriguing, dry, salty wine, but charming all the same. The nose was complex with petrol-like characters, wormwood, orange pith, polish, camphor, and sweet spice. The palate was bone dry, and though the fruit had faded, the wine still had great persistence with a gentle acidity swathe of acidity running all the way through. Tasted at the Domaine March 2020, AA

Tasted at the Domaine March 2020 "Slight rosiness to the colour. A very different wine. Meaty, savoury aromas. A broad, fleshy palate, yet precise with no oiliness. It’s almost beyond any Pinot Gris I’ve ever tasted. A touch of florality on the finish brings the wine back in to line. Refreshing and foody." AA

One of the best of Alsatian dry Muscats. Deftly crafted, lifted, lilies and blossom. Impressively concentrated and ripe, but so fine, so delicate.

The nose is fresh with a little crisp apple and hints of apricot and yellow plum. The typically high acidity pairs well with the residual sugars and the flavours following from the nose. The finish is dry and dominated by elegant hints of apricot.

Outstanding value cuvée made from grapes from Clos Jebsal, Clos Windsbuhl, and Heimbourg. Pinot Gris grows particularly well on limestone soils. The palate it rich and creamy with a velvety texture, yet the wine is fully dry.

Rangen de Thann is one of the most Southerly vineyards of Alsace. Volcanic soils, and vertiginous slopes. This site is so difficult to work it requires that estate to employ four full time staff for just 5.5ha! This wine fermented to full dryness in just 3 weeks. No MLF. Elegant, floral, charming. Savoury, smoky, bright. Hot, and dormant.

As the name indicates, all the vineyards are located on the poor granitic soils of the Brand hillside. It is in fact the second wine of the Grand Cru Brand. These precocious and warm granitic soils produce wines that have a vertical structure, always expressive at a young age and never shy on their aromatic potential. Tasted at the Domaine March 2020: "Fruit from Brand Grand Cru. Pretty much a declassified second wine. Soils here are biotype pink granite. This wine comes from seven parcels: two planted 1947-49, three planted in the early 1980s, and two planted about 20yrs ago under biodynamics. New release. It seems like there’s a bit of bottle shock here. It’s rather muted at the moment. There is some fleshier fruit on the palate, and it is absolutely bone dry. Bitter fruits. Pithy. Smoky finish. ." AA

Rolly-Gassmann is a domaine like no other and has a unique style. It is located at Rorschwihr, a sleepy village on the northern rim of Haut-Rhin. The vineyards are located in Rorschwihr and the neighbouring Rodern and Bergheim. The wines are small masterpieces with very good definition. They all carry the signature of Rolly-Gassmann, a certain shameless, velvety sweetness. The fruit is rich and manages to balance the fruit with a vibrant acidity to form wines that melt on the palate.

Rolly-Gassmann is a domaine like no other and has a unique style. It is located at Rorschwihr, a sleepy village on the northern rim of Haut-Rhin. The vineyards are located in Rorschwihr and the neighbouring Rodern and Bergheim. The wines are small masterpieces with very good definition. They all carry the signature of Rolly-Gassmann, a certain shameless, velvety sweetness. The fruit is rich and manages to balance the fruit with a vibrant acidity to form wines that melt on the palate.

The palate is long, ample and very fresh. It is a dry and very aromatic Riesling, with a significant persistence. Lemon and grapefruit dominate, and like the nose, a minerality begins to appear. A beautiful wine in the making that will go perfectly with a fillet of pike-perch on a bed of sauerkraut.

Wow what a wonderful wine with a fantastic nose. Ripe fruits mingle with dried fruits with port like raisin and plum on the nose. Palate changes somehow and is much subtler, layered and expansive. Red apple, dried apricot, candied orange rind, Meyer lemon, smoke...it just keeps revealing itself further with this persisting mineral backdrop. Loved it!!!

An elegant and restrained Pinot Noir from Alsace, typically youthful and filled with summer berries, cherries and slightly warmer notes. This carries over to the palate with refreshing acidity balanced by the quality of fruit and the ever so soft tannins. 12.5% ABV

Decanter 90/100 "A scented nose of green apple, lime and jasmine leads into an equally fragrant, lifted palate. Lime zest, apple, exotic spice notes and white flowers are cut by a grapefruit-tinged acidity. The finish is long and slightly off dry."

Some citrus, pear and white flowers perfumes develop on the nose. The rich aromas continue through the mid-palate. A long lasting wine, with a refreshing finish. Very versatile wine for a range of fish, chicken and salad dishes.

Grapes for this Pinot Gris were sourced from selected small plots in the Hunawihr vineyards, which lie at an altitude of 250-300 metres above sea level. On the palate, elegant flavours of pear are supported with a subtle smokiness.

From the heart of the Grand Cru Pfersigberg. Crystal clear, arrestingly intense and spicy.

The nose shows subtle floral notes, typical of the Gewurztraminer grape variety, but also complex, slightly reductive, mineral, leather and spicy/peppery aromas. It almost feels like the scent one would get after a rainfall on the pebbles of this vineyard. It will benefit from air (carafe) and will continue to open up with age. The palate is vigorous, elegant and full of energy. Bone dry, with a velvety tannic texture, the palate shows an almost light red wine structure with a salivating finish. This wine will be excellent with food (grilled fish, prawns, light spicy food).

The soils of Goldert Grand Cru are Jurassic limestone marl, the same as in southern Jura. This is a stunning wine. Pale gold colour. Subtle floral/fruity nose with underlying intensity. It is clearly an aromatic wine, not shouting loudly its grape origin because the mineral presence of the Goldert keeps it elegant and complex. Medium power with good persistence, almost Riesling-like, the acidity keeps the palate focused, racy and dry. This wine should age beautifully and develop into the classic Goldert style: mint, bergamot, boxwood with a strong mineral palate structure.

Crazy highly-rated for their awesome grand cru riesling wines (yum but £70 or so if you can find it) this Gewurz is a steal. A seriously big, concentrated take on the style, if you LOVE Gewurz you'll love this - especially with smelly-ripe cheese. A few years bottle age too - handy. Family grower for generations, often seen on posh restaurant wine lists but you don't need a sommelier to enjoy it - lovely with parsnip soup, coconut curry, mango salad, asparagus, toasted almonds, I'd go as far as lamb with dried-fruit cous-cous!

Outstanding value cuvée made from grapes from Clos Jebsal, Clos Windsbuhl, and Heimbourg. Pinot Gris grows particularly well on limestone soils. The palate it rich and creamy with a velvety texture and the wine is a tiny bit off-dry. Pale yellow straw colour. The nose shows the great pedigree of the vineyards it originates from, delivering complex fruit aromas (peach, nectarines, quince) as well as an underlying minerality. It is also quite showy at this young age and will continue to open up with time. The 2019 Roche Calcaire has a beautiful velvety mouth texture that shows great energy. The acidity brings harmony and makes the wine taste actually quite dry and delicate.

In 2019, the ripening period was ideal for these vineyards, around the Herrenweg vineyard in Turckheim. The Riesling grape was harvested in perfect health condition with an ideal balance, allowing it to finish completely dry. Pale gold colour. The nose shows a classic combination of light citrus fruits and a complex stony/mineral influence, almost unusual for this cuvée. The 2019 vintage shows a remarkable balance and structure on the palate. It will certainly age longer, and with a youthful personality, compared to previous vintages. The mouth is quite concentrated, with a surprising firm acidity that brings salivation and a very clean dry finish.

A very Alsatian-styled Chardonnay, and really racy, clean and pure in 2019. The Clos Windsbuhl vineyard was acquired by Domaine Zind-Humbrecht at the end of 1987. They realized quickly that some parts needed to be replanted in order to choose either a better suited grape variety/root stock combination and/or change the density of plantation. The part of the Clos the nearest to the forest had to be replanted. While considering the options, they decided to choose slightly earlier ripening cultivars to compensate for the cooling effect of the nearby forest. Instead of planting the classic combination of Auxerrois/Pinot-Blanc, they replaced the latter with Chardonnay. Unfortunately, Chardonnay isn’t permitted for still wines in Alsace, so we have to declassify this wine to Vin de France every year. Chardonnay is part of the Pinot family, but compared to Pinot-Blanc can produce lower yields and retain beautiful acidity on limestone geology of the Windsbuhl. In 2019, production was actually quite small, so we also added a small percentage of Pinot-Gris in the blend that fermented bone dry. Pale yellow colour. The nose shows the strong limestone influence: mineral, stone driven, citrus fruits and some white fruits (peach) after some aeration. The wine fermented in a large recent oak cask (foudre) and was on full lees until bottling. The palate is quite strict, bone dry, with a racy sapid acidity that gives a juicy texture on the finish. The wine has a nice concentration, but because it is bone dry with a ripe acidity, it feels elegant and delicate.

When Zind-Humbrecht acquired the Clos-Saint-Urbain vineyard on the Grand Cru Rangen in 1977, about half of the land wasn’t under vines and needed to be planted. This very steep vineyard requires a lot of hard manual work and some surfaces were left abandoned in the middle of the 20th century. Most vintages, the vines planted in the 70s and 80s are separated from the very old vines that qualify as Grand Cru. This wine clearly show all the originality of a volcanic geology which is unique in Alsace. They are also cultivated the exact same way as the older vines (ploughing with a winch for example). The biggest difference would be on the crop size. The Roche Volcanique is made with low yields, but the older vines produce even less! For these ‘younger vines’ they aim for very healthy grapes (no noble rot) in order to achieve a dry wine. For some unexplainable reason, the wines from this vineyard also tend to ferment fast and would keep little residual sweetness, as is the case here in 2019. Pale yellow colour. The nose exhibits the classic smoky/flinty character so typical of the volcanic soil. Medium intensity but with a strong sense of place. As much as the nose is still slightly closed, the palate shows power and intensity with a persistent saline texture. This is a very dry wine with a relatively strict mouthfeel but high drinkability. The combine effect of a great acidity and mineral composition create a long lasting mouth-watering finish. Not a complete Rangen Grand Cru, but really not far from it!

This is an astonishing and almost perfect expression of Gewurztraminer; floral, smoky and spicy, then terrific concentration and balance and length, with some juicy sweetness detectable and adding to the enjoyment of the whole. Very, very fine. The sedimentary limestone geology, mostly located on the Vosges mountains foothills in Alsace, has always been the prime choice for producing long lived and structured Gewurztraminer wines. The presence of clay, more or less important, brings a cooler element in the soil, slowing down the ripeness process and preserving better acidity. The presence of limestone influences the aromatic profile and texture of the wine. They become more spicy, less floral, with a recognisable tighter tannic structure so crucial for the balance of the wine. Gewurztraminer, more than any other in Alsace, requires an accomplished skin ripeness. Failing so can end up in an over aromatic, not complex and bitter wine. The quality of the terroir will help greatly, but so does harvesting later! Since the acidity is naturally low, harvesting later isn’t affecting the wine as much as other grapes that would suffer more from acidity loss. All the grapes going into this wine are sourced from the estate's top single vineyards or Grands Crus, where they use the 'younger' vines. Pale yellow colour. The nose shows a restraint, almost mineral, smoky aromatic expression, so typical from a limestone soil. It eventually opens up and reveals ripe citrus, exotic fruits in a very elegant way. The palate shows a surprising freshness and acidity, and finishes with a balanced delicate sweetness. Clearly this wine will benefit from further ageing in order to allow it to express its full potential.

This wine is produced from the oldest vines located on the Herrenweg vineyard in Turckheim. This vineyard enjoys extremely precocious growing conditions. The vines benefit from the opening of the Munster valley and therefore get a couple hours more sunshine in the evening. The valley floor soil is made of big pebbles mixed with fine sands and silt. It increases drainage but also allows for the heat to penetrate the soil much faster in spring. Budbreak is early (putting sometimes the vines at risk of frost) and everything after happens earlier, to the harvest! These very old vines are all high quality massal selections. The clusters are smaller and they have a more discreet complex aromatic profile. The skin of the berries is also thicker, tighter, which means that the wines from such grapes get better phenolic concentration. Tannins are very important for Gewurztraminer, just like a red wine, they bring structure and ageing potential. The 2019 vintage shows a certain concentration and richness. The wine finished its fermentation with a medium sweet balance. Pale yellow colour. The nose shows intense rich fruity (exotic) aromas with some ancient rose aromatics. Quite persistent, powerful, it is a classic medium sweet Gewurztraminer with a beautiful inviting flavour profile. The palate is immediately showing a beautiful velvety texture, quite powerful and finishes with concentrated tannins and a firm structure. The old vines are clearly influencing this wine which is elevated from a simple varietal status and gets a strong rocky feel.

The Osterberg Grand Cru dominates Ribeauvillé, the village next to Hunawihr. This marl-limestone and sandstone hillside favours Riesling. Discreet on the nose, it releases mineral notes with aeration, then fresh scents of elderflower and citrus fruits, lime in the lead. On the palate, it is lively and long, lemony and slightly salty. A racy wine, full of finesse. (Residual sugars: 6 g / l.)

Guide Hachette 2020 edition "A beautiful expression of the vintage with these late harvests combining power and elegance. Flattering and fresh, the nose combines peach and candied citrus fruits - tangerine and orange zest. We find the yellow fruit in the intense, generous, rich and persistent palate, toned on the finish by a frank liveliness and a touch of bitterness. Delicacy and character. (Residual sugar: 80 g / l.)"

Jancis Robinson OBE MW "RS 15 g/l. Mouth-filling. Round and floral and serious with a smoky note. Tense and not that sweet-tasting. Rich and floral – not quite sure when to drink. One glass with a creamy savoury parfait or pâté? Clean and non-blowsy.” Weinbach. Organic/Biodynamic. Iconic Alsace estate founded by the Capucin monks in 1612. Splendidly situated vineyards laid out before (and on) the Weinbach Schlossberg Grand Cru hill. In the hands of the Faller family since the 19th century and still in family hands, Weinbach is considered by those in the know as an icon, a benchmark of serious, traditional, utterly delicious Alsace style.

Jancis Robinson OBE MW 17/20 "Grapes from the south-facing Schnakator (snails' gate) terroir on the foothills of the lieu-dit Altenbourg and Grand Cru Furstentum above the village of Kientzheim on marl and sandstone over limestone. Aged for nine months in old oak. RS 25.3 g/l, TA 4.1 g/l. Pale for a Gewurz. Very intense floral and lychee nose with no excess sweetness. Heady, satin-smooth texture and yet really racy with a pungent savoury quality on the end. Those who don't know much about wine might condemn this wine as being 'sweet' but it is very well balanced with a perfumed, extremely long, somehow exotic, finish." Weinbach. Organic/Biodynamic. Iconic Alsace estate founded by the Capucin monks in 1612. Splendidly situated vineyards laid out before (and on) the Weinbach Schlossberg Grand Cru hill. In the hands of the Faller family since the 19th century and still in family hands, Weinbach is considered by those in the know as an icon, a benchmark of serious, traditional, utterly delicious Alsace style.

Miraculous vintage, Weinbach the stars of Alsace. Creamy, silky, white nut and a whiff of wood-smoke. Weinbach. Organic/Biodynamic. Iconic Alsace estate founded by the Capucin monks in 1612. Splendidly situated vineyards laid out before (and on) the Weinbach Schlossberg Grand Cru hill. In the hands of the Faller family since the 19th century and still in family hands, Weinbach is considered by those in the know as an icon, a benchmark of serious, traditional, utterly delicious Alsace style.

Rolly-Gassmann is a domaine like no other and has a unique style. It is located at Rorschwihr, a sleepy village on the northern rim of Haut-Rhin. The vineyards are located in Rorschwihr and the neighbouring Rodern and Bergheim. The wines are small masterpieces with very good definition. They all carry the signature of Rolly-Gassmann, a certain shameless, velvety sweetness. The fruit is rich and manages to balance the fruit with a vibrant acidity to form wines that melt on the palate.

Rolly-Gassmann is a domaine like no other and has a unique style. It is located at Rorschwihr, a sleepy village on the northern rim of Haut-Rhin. The vineyards are located in Rorschwihr and the neighbouring Rodern and Bergheim. The wines are small masterpieces with very good definition. They all carry the signature of Rolly-Gassmann, a certain shameless, velvety sweetness. The fruit is rich and manages to balance the fruit with a vibrant acidity to form wines that melt on the palate.

Rolly-Gassmann is a domaine like no other and has a unique style. It is located at Rorschwihr, a sleepy village on the northern rim of Haut-Rhin. The vineyards are located in Rorschwihr and the neighbouring Rodern and Bergheim. The wines are small masterpieces with very good definition. They all carry the signature of Rolly-Gassmann, a certain shameless, velvety sweetness. The fruit is rich and manages to balance the fruit with a vibrant acidity to form wines that melt on the palate.

Rolly-Gassmann is a domaine like no other and has a unique style. It is located at Rorschwihr, a sleepy village on the northern rim of Haut-Rhin. The vineyards are located in Rorschwihr and the neighbouring Rodern and Bergheim. The wines are small masterpieces with very good definition. They all carry the signature of Rolly-Gassmann, a certain shameless, velvety sweetness. The fruit is rich and manages to balance the fruit with a vibrant acidity to form wines that melt on the palate.

A delicious blend of four white grapes, traditionally grown in the Alsace region: Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer, and Muscat. Very pretty aromatic nose (flowers and turkish delight) with great structure from the ample acids and delicious clean, crisp fruity flavours. Plus there’s a hint of sweetness to balance the acidity and complement the sushi rice and soy sauce.

17gr residual sugar. Good depth of flavour on the palate. Savoury and bready with a touch of sweet spice. Perhaps a little confected on the fruit. This would certainly be a versatile food wine. Good structure, savoury finish.