Alsace Grand Cru vintage report: 2020 & 2021

Following two days of blind tasting in Colmar earlier this year, 13 wines scored 95 points or more and 40 wines scored 92-94 points, with both the 2021 and 2020 vintages faring well.

Tasting notes for the top 60 wines from both vintages focus on Grand Cru Riesling, as well as Grand Cru Muscat, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer.

Scroll down to see the top 30 Alsace Grand Cru wines from 2020 and 2021

51 grands crus

Across the 15,500ha of total vineyard area in Alsace, there are 51 designated grands crus, yet very few of these are well-known to consumers. Though most consumers do not understand Burgundy or Bordeaux classifications in great detail, these two regions have a longer historical record and formidable brand identities. Alsace on the other hand did not introduce its modern classification until 1975, which doubled in size 1983 with its first 25 grand cru classifications.

Though not covered in this report, over 25% of all Alsace wine produced is traditional method sparkling, known as Crémant. Some of it amounts to mediocre mass-market fizz, but some talented producers are making superb bubbles that can rival Champagne. Some excellent examples to try include Mélanie Pfister’s Breit Extra Brut, Albert Mann’s Extra Brut and Domaine Muré’s Grand Millésime.

See all the Alsace vintage report tasting notes and scores here

2021: a classic vintage

2021 was a ‘difficult vintage,’ says Gilles Haeffelin, sommelier at Au Bon-Coin in Wintzenheim, with the lowest yields since the 1950s because of excessive rain and corresponding rot risk. Despite these difficulties, of 89 Rieslings tasted for this report many 2021s exuded exciting wet stone and citrus fruit characters and tangy acidity.

Lovers of freshness and elegance will likely prefer the 2021 vintage for more noticeable acidity and verve. Philippe Blanck of Domaine Paul Blanck in Kaysersberg says: ‘I will remember 2021 for its acidity and dry extract, an atypical vintage in the context of global warming, but also for its fine texture.’

Jérôme Mader of Domaine Jean-Luc Mader in Hunawihr says: ‘2021 is a classic vintage that we may not ever again make, as climate change takes us in a different direction. It reminds us of Alsace wines made 20 years ago.’

2020: a solar vintage

Mélanie Pfister, of her eponymous domaine in Dahlenheim, northern Alsace, says that 2020 proved to be a more typical, global warming era style, with higher alcohol levels than in 2021: ‘2020 is ripe, full-bodied, deep and with plenty of dry extract,’ she says.

Mader agrees: ‘2020 is more powerful and muscular, but it sometimes lacks the elegance and balance of 2021,’ which he finds ‘very aristocratic in its manifestation of wet stone minerality.’

Cooler soils like clay were better suited to 2020, while warmer granite soils suited 2021 better, says Guillaume Mochel of Domaine Frédéric Mochel in Traenheim.

Mader stresses that grand cru wines are generally from sunnier terroirs where the grapes are meant to ‘ripen perfectly,’ so in solar years like 2020, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer from grands crus can be ‘very powerful’ wines, ‘where the richness can sometimes be excessive.’ By contrast, ‘these excesses are not found in the 2021 vintage, where the balance is more harmonious and finer,’ he says.

A question of style

Olivier Humbrecht MW of Domaine Zind-Humbrecht finds entry-level wines (not including grands crus or specified lieux-dits) ‘more successful’ in 2021. While agreeing with the solar versus classic description, he stresses that grand cru terroirs for Riesling performed equally well while reflecting stylistic differences. For Pinot Gris and dry Gewurztraminer, he prefers the verve of the 2021 vintage, while favouring 2020 for sweeter, late-harvest Gewurztraminer.

Humbrecht cautions against making too strong a contrast between the two vintages. While 2021 had heavy rains between April and July, a very dry period in August through to the end of the harvest meant that poorly worked plots ‘actually showed signs of water stress,’ he says. And while 2020 was indeed much warmer, he explains that two big rains in August – 80mm at the beginning, 40mm in mid-August – helped retain freshness, so that the grands crus experienced ‘no water stress in 2020.’

Although 2021 was difficult for yields, it proved ‘in fact much simpler’ to vinify than 2020, Humbrecht says. ‘Thanks to spring rains, the grapes and musts were loaded with assimilable nitrogen [important for successful fermentations], which allowed the wines to all ferment very easily until they were dry – some took a while, but went the whole way without problems,’ he explains. ‘As a result, the 2021s are quite reductive, but we have not changed the ageing – still 18 months on total lees because we thought that racking the wines earlier would have been harmful.’

Fermentations in 2020 on the other hand were ‘languorous,’ and ‘not just because potential alcohols were 0.5% higher than 2021,’ explains Humbrecht.

Which grands crus fared the best?

The grands crus with the highest-scoring wines were:

Hengst

Kaefferkopf

Kastelberg

Rangen de Thann

Rosacker

Schlossberg

Sommerberg

Zinnkoepflé

Contrasting styles, excellent quality

Tasting both vintages, I experienced more verve and liveliness from the 2021 vintage on a general level. But many 2020s are excellent, with enough acidity and vivacity to balance warmer, riper fruit.

The blind tasting once again proves that Alsace produces exciting white wines, but often the region does not get the attention it deserves. High-scoring producers from this tasting – such as Domanine Weinbach or Domaine Zind-Humbrecht – sell well internationally, but the tasting has also brought lesser-known producers to the fore. From sensational dry Rieslings to nuanced and spicy Gewurztraminers, by way of bold Pinot Gris and refreshing Muscats, most are also inexpensive.

Alsace’s consumer challenges

Alsace still faces a number of consumer challenges. Does Alsace Pinot Gris resemble Italian Pinot Grigio? How are grape varieties like Gewurztraminer, or grands crus like Schlossberg or Altenberg de Bergbieten, pronounced? Will the wine be sweet because it’s in a long, fluted bottle?

While sales of Alsatian wines are solid – the US and the UK are among the top 10 countries for Alsace wines sold by volume and value, according to recent CIVA statistics – they could improve.

‘Even in 2023, there is a question of which grand cru is easier to pronounce for foreign markets,’ says Foulques Aulagnon, export marketing manager at the CIVA (Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins d’Alsace).

As it turns out, Alsace Pinot Gris is ‘absolutely nothing like Italian Pinot Grigio, and buyers still are confounded by the residual sugar levels in Alsatian wine, often too sweet for palates accustomed to dry whites,’ says Washington DC based sommelier Maria Denton.

Despite a recent change in regulations stating that all non-late harvest Alsace Riesling must be dry, as well as an introduction of a dryness scale on the back label, making this information even clearer on the label could help.

Tasting notes and scores for the top 30 Alsace Grand Cru wines from 2020 and 2021:

Related articles

• Alsace: Best bars and restaurants for wine lovers
• Alsace Riesling must be ‘dry’, says wine body proposal
• Get to know Alsace: Good, better, best