Dry · Medium-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Funky · Easygoing
Achillee's natural Pinot Noir from biodynamic vines around Scherwiller. Light, lifted, Burgundian-register Alsace red, no added sulfites at bottling.
Cuvées
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Elegant
Boxler's Brand Gewurztraminer, a warm-site granite expression. Concentrated rose, lychee and ginger with the cuvee's saline mineral lift.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Savoury
Boxler's Pinot Gris from Sommerberg granite, more austere than most Alsace Pinot Gris thanks to the steep, well-drained slope.
Dry · Medium-bodied · Racy acidity · Refreshing · Elegant
Boxler's L parcel selection on Sommerberg (formerly called Jeunes Vignes), younger granite vines but the same incisive mineral character.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Elegant
Albert Mann's Furstentum Gewurztraminer from limestone slopes above Sigolsheim. Concentrated, saline, with a particularly mineral cut for the grape.
Dry · Medium-bodied · Medium tannin · High acidity · Elegant
Albert Mann's Pinot Noir Grand H from old plots on Grand Cru Hengst, bottled as Alsace AOC because Hengst was not yet open to Pinot Noir at the cuvee's launch. A Burgundian-register Alsace red.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Elegant
Albert Mann's Steingrubler Gewurztraminer from gentle limestone slopes above Wettolsheim. Lighter than Furstentum but in the same aromatic Grand Cru register.
Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Festive · Elegant
Barmes-Buecher's vintage-dated extra-brut Cremant. Long-aged on lees in a Champagne-style Alsace Cremant, biodynamic, often zero-dosage.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Elegant
Barmes-Buecher's Steingrubler Gewurztraminer from limestone slopes above Wettolsheim. Concentrated rose and lychee in a saline biodynamic register.
Dry · Medium-bodied · Racy acidity · Funky · Elegant
Bernard Bohn's natural-style Schist Riesling from Reichsfeld in the Lower Vosges. Biodynamic, smoky, mineral; one of the few Steige-schist bottlings in Alsace.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Elegant
Bott-Geyl's Furstentum Gewurztraminer from limestone-rich slopes above Kientzheim. Concentrated, saline and structured by altitude.
Dry · Medium-bodied · Racy acidity · Elegant
Bott-Geyl's Mandelberg Riesling from south-facing limestone-marl slopes near Mittelwihr, named for the almond trees that once dotted the slope.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Elegant
Bott-Geyl's Sonnenglanz Gewurztraminer from south-facing marl-limestone slopes around Beblenheim. Sun-glanced fruit (the cru's name means 'sunshine') with a saline mineral lift.
Dry · Medium-bodied · Racy acidity · Elegant
Bruno Sorg's Florimont Riesling from limestone slopes near Ingersheim. The cru takes its name from 'flower hill' for its rich Vosges flora.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Funky · Elegant
Binner's complanted Kaefferkopf, named for his daughter Beatrice. Field-blend of noble grapes in a natural-wine register; Kaefferkopf became Alsace's 51st Grand Cru in 2007.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Elegant
Dirler-Cade's Kessler Gewurztraminer from sandstone slopes above Guebwiller, biodynamic since the early 1990s. Concentrated rose and lychee with a saline lift.
Dry · Medium-bodied · Racy acidity · Refreshing
Dirler-Cade's Saering Riesling from sandstone slopes around Guebwiller. Biodynamic and bone-dry; the maison's everyday Grand Cru.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Elegant
Dirler-Cade's Spiegel Gewurztraminer from sandstone-marl slopes above Bergholtz. Concentrated rose and lychee with a saline lift.
Dry · Medium-bodied · Racy acidity · Elegant
Etienne Loew's Muschelkalk Riesling from limestone-marl slopes around Westhoffen in north Alsace. Demeter biodynamic, dry, structured.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Elegant
Domaine Saint-Remy's Hengst Pinot Gris from calcareous-marl slopes above Wintzenheim. Biodynamic Demeter, lightly off-dry.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Elegant
Ernest Burn's Clos Saint Imer is a walled monopole inside Grand Cru Goldert. The Gewurztraminer is the maison's flagship aromatic white.
Dry · Full-bodied · Medium tannin · High acidity · Funky · Savoury
Pierre Frick's skin-macerated Pinot Gris from the Steinert vineyard. Orange wine in the textbook Alsace register: dried apricot, citrus peel, a modest tannic grip.
Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Refreshing
Estate-only Riesling from the family's holdings in Riquewihr and Zellenberg, bottled dry and unoaked. Hugel's mid-tier Riesling.
Dry · Medium-bodied · Medium tannin · High acidity · Elegant
Hugel's serious Pinot Noir, named for the cousins of the 13th-generation family, sourced from old plots around Riquewihr and Hunawihr. Burgundian register with Alsace lift.
Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Refreshing · Fruity
Jean Becker's biodynamic Muscat from Grand Cru Froehn near Zellenberg. Bone-dry but with the Muscat aromatic lift; among the few standalone Alsace Grand Cru Muscat bottlings.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Elegant
Jean-Marie Haag's Zinnkoepfle Gewurztraminer from south-Alsace limestone hill. Concentrated rose, lychee and ginger with a saline mineral lift.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Fruity · Easygoing
Les Folastries is Josmeyer's village-level Gewurztraminer, named for the playful muses of Pierre de Ronsard. Aromatic but more restrained than typical Alsace Gewurz.
Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Refreshing
Josmeyer's Le Kottabe is the maison's signature dry Riesling, named for an antique Greek wine-drinking game. Bone dry, citrus and stone.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Elegant
Kuentz-Bas's flagship Gewurztraminer from Eichberg above Eguisheim. Concentrated rose and lychee with the cuvee's saline mineral lift; biodynamic since 2007.
Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Refreshing
Kuentz-Bas's Trois Chateaux Riesling, named for the three medieval castles above Husseren-les-Chateaux. The maison's village-level dry Riesling.
Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Elegant
Beyer's mid-tier dry Gewurztraminer from Eguisheim-area plots. The accessible step below the Comtes d Eguisheim flagship; bone dry in the house style.
Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Refreshing
Beyer's mid-tier dry Riesling from Eguisheim plots, more accessible in price than the Comtes but in the same austere mineral idiom.
Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Savoury
Beyer's dry Pinot Gris reserve cuvee, fermented to dryness rather than the off-dry house style favoured by some Alsace producers. Smoky pear and almond weight.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Elegant
Leon Boesch's biodynamic Zinnkoepfle Gewurztraminer. Concentrated rose and lychee from one of the highest Alsace Grand Crus.
Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Festive · Easygoing
Lucien Albrecht's house Brut Cremant, a Pinot-family blend. Reliable traditional-method Alsace bubbles at the price of a good Champagne entry.
Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Festive · Easygoing
Maison Cattin (Voegtlinshoffen) Cremant Jacques Cattin, an accessible Pinot-family blend with longer lees ageing than the basic tier.
Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Elegant
Marc Kreydenweiss's Lerchenberg lieu-dit Pinot Gris from Andlau. Bone-dry, biodynamic, more austere than typical Alsace Pinot Gris.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Elegant
Marc Kreydenweiss's Moenchberg Pinot Gris from limestone slopes above Andlau. Concentrated, lightly off-dry, with the biodynamic register of the domaine.
Dry · Medium-bodied · Medium tannin · High acidity · Funky · Elegant
Marc Tempe's Pinot Noir from biodynamic vines around Zellenberg. Long-aged on lees in old foudre, Burgundian-register Alsace red.
Off Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Elegant
Deiss's complanted Burg lieu-dit, on calcareous slopes around Bergheim, recently included in the Alsace Premier Cru list. A more accessible expression of the complanted style.
Off Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Fruity · Easygoing
Deiss's complanted Engelgarten lieu-dit, a hot, gravel-rich site that gives a more fruit-forward and aromatic complanted expression. Premier Cru tier.
Off Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Elegant
Deiss's complanted Langenberg from sunny calcareous slopes, Premier Cru tier. Riesling-led and more austere than Engelgarten.
Dry · Medium-bodied · Racy acidity · Elegant
Melanie Pfister's Engelberg Riesling from northern Alsace limestone slopes near Dahlenheim. Biodynamic and bone-dry.
Dry · Medium-bodied · Racy acidity · Elegant
Felix Meyer's Wineck-Schlossberg Riesling from granite slopes above Katzenthal. Bright, racy, granite-driven.
Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Savoury
Andre Ostertag's Fronholz Pinot Gris from a sandstone hill above Epfig. Barrel-aged in old wood (unusual in Alsace) for a deliberately Burgundian-textured Pinot Gris.
Dry · Medium-bodied · Racy acidity · Refreshing
Andre Ostertag's Heissenberg Riesling from sandstone slopes near Nothalten, alongside Muenchberg. Pure, dry, biodynamic; the maison's everyday Bas-Rhin Riesling.
Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Savoury · Elegant
Andre Ostertag's Pinot Blanc-Auxerrois from limestone-marl slopes, barrel-aged in old oak. Biodynamic, Demeter, almond-and-peach in a more serious register than typical Alsace Pinot Blanc.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Elegant
Paul Blanck's Mambourg Gewurztraminer from south-facing limestone slopes above Sigolsheim. Concentrated and saline.
Dry · Medium-bodied · Medium tannin · High acidity · Elegant
Mure's serious Pinot Noir from the Clos Saint Landelin monopole on Vorbourg. The V is the cuvee bottled when Vorbourg-grown Pinot Noir warranted a Grand-Cru-quality cuvee, though officially labelled Alsace AOC.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Easygoing
Mure's village-level Pinot Gris from the Rouffach hillsides. Plump, lightly off-dry, honeyed pear in a friendly register.
Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Festive · Easygoing
Mure's house Cremant brut, a Pinot-family blend with a splash of Riesling for lift. Reliable traditional-method Alsace bubbles at a friendly price.
Dry · Full-bodied · Medium tannin · High acidity · Funky · Savoury
Jean-Pierre Rietsch's skin-macerated Pinot Gris. Orange wine in the natural Alsace register: dried apricot, citrus peel, modest tannic grip.
Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Funky · Elegant
Jean-Pierre Rietsch's natural Zotzenberg Sylvaner. One of the few biodynamic natural bottlings of the only Alsace Grand Cru open to Sylvaner.
Off Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Elegant
Rolly Gassmann's Kappelweg lieu-dit Riesling from Rorschwihr. Late-released with the maison's signature touch of residual sugar.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Elegant
Rolly Gassmann's Moenchreben lieu-dit Gewurztraminer from Rorschwihr. Concentrated and saline; the maison aged in cellar 4 to 6 years before release.
Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Refreshing
Schlumberger's most approachable Grand Cru Riesling, from sandstone slopes lower than Kitterle. Brisk citrus and stone.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Savoury
Schlumberger's Spiegel Pinot Gris from sandstone-marl slopes above Guebwiller. Smoky pear and almond in an off-dry register.
Dry · Medium-bodied · Medium tannin · High acidity · Elegant
Schoenheitz's Linsenberg Pinot Noir from Munster valley granite. The maison is the main producer working the upper Munster valley sub-zone.
Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Elegant
Schoffit's Auxerrois from Rangen volcanic soil; one of the few Alsace producers who bottles single-cru Auxerrois rather than blending it as Pinot Blanc.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Easygoing
Schoffit's old-vine Pinot Gris from the Harth plot near Colmar. A more affordable, plump expression of the Schoffit style, off-dry and broad-shouldered.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Elegant
Jean-Louis Trapet's Sporen Gewurztraminer from clay-rich slopes above Riquewihr. Biodynamic, concentrated rose, lychee and ginger with the cuvee's saline lift.
Dry · Medium-bodied · Medium tannin · High acidity · Elegant
Trimbach's serious Pinot Noir from old-vine Mambourg-area sources, made in a Burgundian register since the warm vintages of the late 2000s opened ripening windows in Alsace.
Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Refreshing
Trimbach's house-style Riesling, blending fruit from multiple villages around Ribeauville. Bone-dry, citrus and stone, the textbook introduction to Alsace Riesling.
Dry · Medium-bodied · Medium tannin · High acidity · Elegant
Valentin Zusslin's Bollenberg Pinot Noir from south-facing limestone slopes above Orschwihr. Biodynamic, Burgundian-register Alsace red.
Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Elegant
Stoeffler's Klevener de Heiligenstein, a rare Alsace-only appellation for Savagnin Rose grown around five communes near Barr. Aromatic but more restrained than Gewurztraminer.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Elegant
Weinbach's flagship Gewurztraminer from old vines on Furstentum's limestone slopes, named for one of Colette Faller's daughters. Concentrated, aromatic, structured.
Dry · Medium-bodied · Medium acidity · Easygoing
Weinbach's Pinot Blanc, dominated by Auxerrois, from the walled Clos des Capucins vineyards. Soft, gentle, dinner-table friendly.
Dry · Medium-bodied · Racy acidity · Refreshing · Elegant
Cuvee Theo, named for Theo Faller, is Weinbach's Alsace AOC Riesling, sourced from the Clos des Capucins vineyards around the domaine in Kientzheim.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Easygoing · Fruity
Wolfberger's Eichberg Gewurztraminer from limestone slopes above Eguisheim. Reliable co-op Grand Cru with the maison's friendly aromatic style.
Dry · Medium-bodied · Racy acidity · Elegant
Wunsch et Mann's Hengst Riesling from calcareous-marl above Wettolsheim. Dry, mineral, structured.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Savoury
Zind-Humbrecht's Heimbourg Pinot Gris from limestone slopes near Turckheim. Concentrated pear, almond and smoke in a confidently off-dry register.
Off Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Elegant
Zind-Humbrecht's Hengst Gewurztraminer from calcareous-marl slopes above Wintzenheim. Power, concentration and a saline-honey core.