Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/101724
PHOTO: LANA BORTOLOT PHOTO: LANA BORTOLOT W ein Étienne Hugel's family domaine dates back to the 16th century. F PHOTO: ZVARDON, COURTESY OF CONSEIL INTERPROFESSIONEL DES VINS D'ALSACE ew Old World wines garner as much admiration as those from Alsace, the cross-cultural wine region tucked into the northeast corner of France. And few regions cause as much confusion when it comes down to considering whether Alsace is French or German. Despite appearances—timber villages, a river named Rhine and a rich, German-inluenced food culture with dishes like baeckeoffe and flammekueche, it is deinitively French. With a German twist. The wine industry here is founded on estates with Germanic monikers such as Trimbach, Weinbach and Zind-Humbrecht— names that go back as far as 14 generations (many wineries display intricate family trees on the wall) and are recognized as some of the most prestigious wine families in the world. Like Burgundy and Champagne, Alsace is composed of small plots with many owners. Though there are nearly 5,000 growers involved in wine production here—from co-ops and négociants to family wineries—Alsace has a human scale that sets it apart from other French wine regions. "There's an incredible diversity of human-sized family producers," says Phillipe Blanck, of Domaine Paul Blanck. "Alsace has a speciic cultural identity and authenticity. We are not recognized like Burgundy and Champagne, but it means we work harder." Alsace's physiography is envious. Protected by the Vosges Mountains, it has the second lowest rainfall in France—just 16 to 20 inches a year—giving it long sunny grape-ripening days. Oak is a rarity here, so no matter where the wine is made, it purely expresses earth and fruit—one of Alsace's major differentiators. But what really excites winemakers is the mosaic of soils (13 in all) that give the wines their wide range in styles—from racy and acid-driven to opulent and complex. In Turckheim, Master of Wine and biodynamic winemaker Olivier Humbrecht of Domaine Zind-Humbrecht (1620), likes to say there is less soil diversity from San Francisco to New january 2013 / the tasting panel / 101