Time to try Alsace Pinot Noir

Much has been written about its Rieslings, but less is said about Alsace’s Pinot Noir. This is largely because Pinot only accounts for 10% of the region’s total production.

The Alsace region

Alsace is a unique place, torn between French and German ownership down the centuries. With the Vosges mountain range on its western border and the Rhine on its eastern flank, it seems like a somewhat isolated outpost of France and – certainly when it comes to its wines – it has more in common with its German neighbours across the Rhine. Here lies the Black Forest and the German wine region of Baden, which produces similarly feather-touch Pinots of fragrance and earthiness.

Perhaps Alsace’s key feature is its geography and geology. The region spans a narrow corridor about 75 miles long, running approximately north to south, and all along its length the Vosges mountains create a rain shadow, making Alsace one of France’s driest regions.

Additionally, the geology here is incredibly diverse, with 13 identified soil types. These range from volcanic soils, granite and schist in the mountainous areas to the west, to limestone and marl-clay in the foothills and loess and alluvial deposits on the plain.

The benefit to growers is that they can use this extraordinary diversity of terroirs much like ingredients and seasoning in food. While some have chosen to focus on the character a particular soil type brings to a wine – austerity from grapes grown on schist, or bright acidity from limestone, for example – others blend different terroirs for a more rounded approach.

Alsace Pinot Noir

The main sticking point for Pinot Noir is that Alsace Grand Cru wines can only be made from specific white varieties – there are no red grands crus. Although there are some delicious examples out there, including those sourced from grand cru vineyards, the inability to designate a Pinot Noir wine as a Grand Cru surely affects the variety’s ability to be marketed as effectively as the whites.

Some producers at least hint at a Pinot’s grand cru roots by including the first initial of the vineyard in the name of the wine – for instance, Muré’s V Pinot Noir is from the Vorbourg grand cru, and Kirrenbourg’s Terroir B Pinot Noir is from the Brand grand cru.

It may be a pain for producers looking to sell their wines at the best prices, but for consumers it represents an opportunity to pick up a relative bargain compared to the arguably better-known Pinot Noirs, or Spätburgunders, from across the river. And let’s not forget that Alsace Pinot Noir offers an alternative, lighter, even more fragrant style to that bastion of French Pinot, Burgundy.

Alsace Pinot Noir to try:

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