Tyson Stelzer

The quaint, ancient villages that dot Alsace’s picturesque hillsides make it one of the sweetest places to visit in all of France. Alsace’s sweetness and charm extend also to its wines. Unfortunately, I found more sweetness than charm.

Too much residual sugar was for me the letdown of most Alsacian Riesling. Gewurztraminer, lending itself more so to this slightly sweeter style, was consistently better.

It is hardly surprising then, that Alsace really comes to the fore in its late harvest and Noble Rot styles of Vendanges Tardives and Selection de Grains Nobles. These are surely some of the greatest sweet wines ever made from Riesling and Gewurztraminer.

I found the Grand Cru designation to generally bear very little correlation with wine quality. Interestingly, the house wines in many local restaurants demonstrated better structure than some Grand Crus.

Rene Mure

Large producer in Rouffach, with Australian distribution through Evan McKay (Black Rock, Vic). Seventeen wines tasted.

1998 Riesling Clos St Landelin Grand Cru Vorbourg
Very Good, within its style

An intense nose of gooseberries and dried fruits. The palate, while a bit sweet, is complex, intense and very long. Aromatic, almost Gewurztraminer-like characters.

Pfaffenheim

1999 Zinnkoepfle Grand Cru Gewurz Good to Very Good

Fresh lychee and rose water nose and a fruit-driven palate.

Hugel

Top producer in Riquewihr, using traditional methods, including the oldest oak cask in use in the world. Riquewihr is a village worth a visit regardless of its wines, but don’t miss Hugel, and particularly its Gewurztraminer.

2000 Gewurztraminer Hugel Very Good-

Excellent, lifted lychee nose and palate with floral and rose water, finishing just a little short.
$18

1997 Gewurztraminer Hugel Tradition Very Good+

Full, slightly developed lychee and apricot fruit, verging on banana. Long finish.
$22

1997 Gewurztraminer Hugel Jubilee Very Good+

Quite sweet on the nose and palate, with lychee fruit prominent. Full flavoured, intense and long. One of the best older Gewurzs that I have experienced.
$29

1998 Gewurztraminer Hugel Vendange Tardive Very Good

Again, characteristic soft lychees. Full, long and sweet. May well move up in rating with age.
$52

1989 Riesling Hugel Vendange Tardive Excellent+

Yellow with hints of gold. A light colour that belies its age. The bouquet is rich with fresh banana; the palate a glorious concoction of banana, stone fruits and tropical fruits carrying on with huge length. Slight botrytis hints, and good structure.
$63

Louis Sipp

Producer of a large range of good value wines and liqueurs in Ribeauville. Australian imports through Douglas Lamb Wines.

2000 Riesling Good

Sweet, fruity nose. A perfumey and floral style with a faintly sweet palate. Fairly low acid points to a short life.
Value @$10.

1997 Riesling Sigille par la Confrerie St Etienne Good+

A softer style with some bottle age honey notes and a good acid structure.
$14

1999 Gewurztraminer Medaille d’Or Paris Very Good

Slightly sweet stone fruits and lychees with nice length. An elegant, drink now style.
$15

1995 Tokay Pinot Gris Sigille par la Confrerie St Etienne vin moelleux Good within its style

With one exception, the only Alsacian Pinot Gris that I considered worthy of a mention. Intense, sweet tropical fruits and apricot with strong petrol and a long finish.
$23

1997 Gewurztraminer Osterberg Grand Cru Very Good

For its age, a fresh, youthful wine with soft floral and lychee characters and a long finish.
$24

Domaine Jean Sipp

Louis’ cousin in Ribeauville. No Australian exports.

1998 Riesling Kirchberg de Ribeauville Grand Cru Very Good

A closed nose, but a sweet, fruity and intense palate of nectarine fruit, and a long finish.
$21

Marcel Freyburger

Small family producer of ridiculously good value wines in Ammerschwihr. Barrel samples of 2001 Riesling and Gewurztraminer. Australian imports through Lester Jesberg (Winewise).

2001 Riesling Very Good+

Racked just the day before.
A superb nose of complex and intense tropical fruits and florals. A similar palate is structured with soft acid and finished with good length. Drink young.
Daylight robbery at $7.

2001 Kaefferkopf Gewurztraminer Very Good+

Excellent nose and palate of roses and lychee fruit. Nice length and soft but good structure, rounding out this great value, drink young wine.
$13

1999 Gewurztraminer Kaefferkopf Very Good

A very good nose of grapey fruit sweetness. Great palate with intense lychees, good structure and a slightly candy sweet finish; long but not overly sweet. Will apparently keep ten years and beyond.
$29, 500mL

Trimbach

Trimbach is the king of Alsace. Top wines across the board. With the exception of the Pinot blanc, I include here every one that I tasted.

Like Hugel, Trimbach is resolutely opposed to the Grand Cru system. This makes good sense, particularly in the light of the vast variation in the quality of their peer’s wines marketed under this designation. It is ironic that Trimbach and Hugel produce what I consider to be the best wines of them all.

1998 Riesling Reserve Very Good+ to Excellent-

Ripe melon and tropical fruit nose. There are hints of mineral on a fruity palate of ripe manderine and rockmelon, without any signs of residual sugar (hooray!). Very good length, good acidity and great structure will guarantee a long life.
$19

1997 Cuvee Frederic Emile Riesling Very Good

Fruit is sourced from the Osterberg Grand Cru vineyard, but the wine is, of course, not labelled as such.
Good light yellow-green colour. A quite developed nose of kero and ripe orange peel. The palate is similar, held together with a minerally structure, lemony acid and very good length. A dry style with some traces of over-ripe fruit.
$38

1998 Pinot Gris Reserve Personnelle Very Good

Osterberg Grand Cru vineyard.
Yellow with green hints. A nice, fruity nose of dried pear and hints of petrol. The palate is very good, with rich but elegant tropical fruits filling out a soft, fruit-driven style. Good length. Drink within a year or two.
$31

1998 Gewurztraminer Cuvee des Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre
Very Good+

Osterberg Grand Cru Vineyard.
A full and intense nose of sweet lychee fruit makes way for a palate of the same intense lychees, with hints of rose. The wine displays a better structure than most of the Gewurztraminers that I have tasted, finishing with good length. Nonetheless, best drunk within the next year or two.

1997 Vengange Tardives Gewurztraminer Excellent

An excellent, complex but elegant nose of tropical fruits, banana and a hint of kero. The palate has the same ripe bananas, sweet tropical fruits and lychees. Good length and nice acid structure.
$52

1994 Selection de Grain Nobles Gewurztraminer Absolutely sensational!

Glowing yellow, with only slight hints of gold. The bouquet is very complex, smooth and developed, exhibiting tropical fruits and faint buttery mushrooms. A very intense palate, with a buttery smooth mouthfeel. Absolutely gorgeous complex tropical fruits and dried apricots smear seamlessly into complex aged characters, continuing throughout a huge length of finish. Sweet but not sickly, mushroomy but not musty, smooth but not light. Magnificent now, and will live very long indeed – 20 year potential. Along with Sauternes, undoubtedly one of the great sweet wines of the world.
$127