2005 Riesling Grand Cru Kanzlerberg, Lorentz

Kanzlerberg is the smallest Grand Cru in Alsace, just over 3 acres with only two owners, Lorentz and Sylvie Spielmann. It is located next door to the sun-drenched Grand Cru Altenberg de Bergheim giving golden yellow, generous but elegant wines with subtle oranges and honey aromas. But Kanzlerberg is not so exposed, and the clay soil makes the wines much more tight, requiring long cellaring to show their best.

2005 Riesling Grand Cru Kanzlerberg from Lorentz in Bergheim has a dense, greenish-yellow color. The aroma is complex but restrained and provides grapefruit, limes, fresh herbs and quince. The palate is medium-bodied and quite dry, and the powerful fruit gradually develops in the mouth. The wine has excellent structure, and the lovely acids make the saliva flow. A wonderful wine for wine enthusiasts. Price (2009): € 21.

2010 Riesling Grand Cru Schlossberg, Becker

Grand Cru Schlossberg is the largest of the 51 Grands Crus of Alsace. The area is about 80 hectares, divided into two parts, with the majority stretching from the village of Kaysersberg to village of Kientzheim. Schlossberg is oriented due south, and the thin, thin layer of soil is readily warmed up by the sun, at the same time as most of the rainwater is rapidly drained. In years with naturally high acidity in the wines, which in 2008, 2010 and 2012 thes naturally generosity of the terroir is combined with a freshness and texture rarely achieved during warm years like 2009 and 2011

2010 Riesling Grand Cru Schlossberg from Becker in Zellenberg has a deep yellow color. The nose is big and fruity with notes of orange, pineapple, acacia and mineral. The flavor is quite supple and clean with a wonderfully lively acidity that embeds the generous fruit, while there is a tantalizing saltiness in the finish. A really, really good wine from a reliable producer. Price (2014) € 16.00.

1999 Riesling Grand Cru Kirchberg, Louis Sipp

I have drunk many, one at least two dozen bottles of this wine. Most have been good, some have been soapy, one has been corked but this bottle was - perfect! Since 1999, the storability of Alsace wines have improved. This is mainly due to the current corks are so much better, but most likely because of better understanding of how to optimize the balance between oxidative and reductive phases from fermentation until the wine is bottled just before the next harvest.

1999 Riesling Grand Cru Kirchberg from Louis Sipp in Ribeauvillé has a healthy yellow color with a little hint of green. The aroma is big but not excessive, offering mango, grapefruit and heather. The flavor is rich, complex and somewhat acerbic and gives the impression of being completely dry, despite the overwhelming and smooth fruit that remains in the mouth for a long, long time. Who would have thought that this wine is 15 years old? Price: € 20.

2007 Riesling Grand Cru Kastelberg, Gresser

Grand Cru Kastelberg is the only one of Alsace's finest vineyards are located on the slate. This rock is made up of sedimentary layers of clay particles of easily weathered minerals. Typically the rock has been transformed to become hard, brittle and flakey. Because shale releases much minerals, while it is dark and well drained, the vines on Kastelberg gives a unique character to the grapes which ripen perfectly.

2007 Riesling Grand Cru Kastelberg from Gresser in Andlau has developed aromas of licorice, citrus and minerals with a hint of cardamom, acacia and smoke. The flavor is quite full with layers of ripe fruit, stringent acidity, excellent structure and absolutely first-class balance. The aftertaste is fresh and very, very long. Price: € 20.

2008 Riesling Grand Cru Rosacker, Eblin-Fuchs

From 2011, the number of designations of origin (Appellation d'Origin Contrôlée) in Alsace increased from three (AOC Alsace, AOC Alsace Grand Cru, AOC Crémant d'Alsace) to a full 53. It is a consequence of new EU rules for protected designations of origin, which for Alsace has meant that each of the  area's 51 Grand Cru has become its own AOC. In the future, the label should state Appellation Grand Cru Rosacker etetera. Wacky, but perhaps good.

2008 Riesling Grand Cru Rosacker from Eblin-Fuchs Zellenberg is biodynamically grown. The color is golden yellow, and the scent is gerous and sweet with passion fruit, lemon, a whiff of diesel and almonds. The taste is initially closed, but soon spreads out comfortably in your mouth and provides intense fruitiness and a powerful, ripe acidity that creates a fine balance in the dry finish. Price: € 14.

2009 Riesling Grand Cru Schlossberg, Jean-Marc et Frédéric Bernhard

All vintages of Alsace are very different. The reason  for the variations are obviously the weather, but mainly that quality producers do not manipulate their wines. If you harvest early, use standardized yeast, adjust the wine with acid or base, and use lots of sulfur the wines come out alike - and equally boring - year after year. 2009 vintage yielded wines that initially lacked elegance and had some bitterness. After 5 years, they have "come home" and finally developed a fine balance, even if the style will never be classic. But good.

2009 Riesling Grand Cru Schlossberg from Jean-Marc et Frédéric Bernhard in Katzenthal has a golden color. The aroma is rich and saturated with coffee, arrack, orange, ripe pineapple and peach puree. The palate is medium-bodied, powerful, somewhat hot and rich with sandy roughness, good acidity and very good balance. A wine with a substantial volume that manages to maintain its' equilibrium. Price: € 13.

2007 Riesling Grand Cru Osterberg, Louis Sipp

The label holds the three words Finesse, Harmony, Authenticity. It's really three relevant epithets for the wines of the firm Louis Sipp. With high aspirations at all levels Etienne Sipp makes classic, firm and tasty wines from all grapes. But perhaps does the style turn out best for Riesling, where the cuvées range from the diehard Hagel, over the fresh Grand Cru Osterberg, the saturated Grand Cru Kirchberg to the generous and and plump Steinacker. Sipp has lovely wines for all tastes!

2007 Riesling Grand Cru Osterberg from Louis Sipp in Ribeauvillé is bright greenish yellow in color. The smell is, even after six years, remarkably young with lemon, herbs, acacia and star anise. The taste is barely medium-bodied with big, firm acidity and a clean, ripe fruitiness that fills out the palate into a harmonious whole. A classic wine from a calcareous soil that slopes gently toward the east. Price: € 18.

2003 Riesling Grand Cru Pfersigberg, Bruno Sorg

Bruno Sorg introduced me to the notion of terroir in 2003, an episode that fueled my interest for Alsace. Over the years, I have shared more bottles with this wonderful, friendly and utterly skilled man than with any other vigneron in Alsace. But in mid-October 2013 Bruno Sorg left this world. He will be missed by many that have returned to his courtyard in Eguisheim for the wines that he, and since several years his son François, has offered lovers of Alsace wines.

2003 Riesling Grand Cru Pfersigberg from Bruno Sorg in Eguisheim is medium golden yellow with a green tint. The aroma is expressive, pure and sweet with wild flowers, peach, honey dew, pineapple, coffee beans and a whiff of petrol. The taste is fresh, vital and quite dry with a sense of chalky minerality in the perfectly balanced finish. A serious and charming wine from a very difficult vintage. Price (current vintage): €13.50.

2002 Riesling Grand Cru Rangen, Schoffit

The firm Schoffit is located in the east of Colmar, in a residential area where there used to be greenhouses. From here, the family Schoffit runs one of Alsace domains that have the most dispersed set of vineyards. Of the company's three vineyards Grand Cru Rangen is in the far south of Alsace,  Grand Cru Sommerberg is in Niedermorschwihr, while lieu-dit Harth is squeezed between roundabouts, industries and modern buildings in Colmar's outskirts.

2002 Riesling Grand Cru Rangen from Schoffit in Colmar is deep golden yellow. The fragrance is explosive and expressive with exotic fruits, some rubber, smoke, mineral, roasted nuts and honey. The flavor is rich and deep, fresh and clean with beautiful youthful acid, lots of juicy fruit, a touch of tannins and an outstanding long finish. A perfectly mature wine of highest class. It is a priviligium to drink wines like these! Price: € 32.

2002 Riesling Grand Cru Geisberg, Faller

Grand Cru Geisberg forms a steep amphitheater on the hillside north of Ribeauvillé. It is one of the very best vineyards in Alsace. But only Faller and Kientzler makes "pure" Riesling Grand Cru Geisberg. Trimbach blends his Geisberg with wine from Grand Cru Osterberg to make Cuvée Frederic Emile, and landowners Baldenbeck and the monastery in Ribeauvillé sell their grapes. At Faller, located on the main street Grand'Rue, you may always taste several vintages. Try them and select the one you like best!

2002 Riesling Grand Cru Geisberg from Faller in Ribeauvillé smells devine of ginger, apple pie, honey, white flowers, candied lemon and minerals. The taste is pure, silky but still tight and focused, with lots of fruit in the clean and dry aftertaste. A brilliant wine at its' peak. Price (2005): € 15.

2010 Riesling Grand Cru Schoenenbourg, Agapé

Among wine growers in Alsace, the opinion prevails that Swedish customers ask for dry wines. The focus immediately on the dry, high level Rieslings and couldn't care less about Pinot Gris and even less about Gewurztraminer. But when they leave the cellar, they have been seduced by lush opulence of off-dry wines. At Agapé, run by the dynamic and utterly skilled Vincent Sipp, the entire spectrum of wines tastes great. This style of this masterful winemaker rests on the dry side, and he manages to get the best out of his three Grands Crus: Osterberg, Rosacker and the fabulous Schoenenbourg.

2010 Riesling Grand Cru Schoenenbourg from Agapé in Riquewihr offers a complex, but yet undeveloped, nose with forest honey, grapefruit, passion fruit, roasted walnuts and some spicy botrytis. The taste is medium bodied with grapefruit zest, rich fruit, superb acidity and a long, seductive finish. Impressive! Price: €16,50

2004 Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Osterberg, Mittnacht Frères

Hunawihr is a small village with just two streets. But there are some producers you absolutely can not miss: Mader (with its dry rich style), Sipp-Mack (on the way back after the painful split in the Sipp-Mack and Agapé), the cooperative (which never makes you disappointed) and the discrete but absolutely fabulous Mittnacht Frères. The firm is located on the main street, opposite François Schwach and David Ermel, and is run by cousins ​​Marc and Christophe. Here are all the wines very, very high quality.

2004 Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Osterberg from Mittnacht Frères in Hunawhir is golden yellow. The nose is fresh and tight with hints of ginger, peach, smoke, grapefruit and wet stone. The taste is complex with creamy fruit, firm acids and a honey-like sweetness that leads into a long, balanced finish. Yezzz! Price: 18 €.

2007 Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Osterberg, Louis Sipp

Grand Cru Osterberg provides some of Alsace freshest wines, regardless of grape. Often you'll find firm acids of lime and lemon in the Rieslings, and even Gewurztraminer from Osterberg is tight and elegant despite much residual sugar. The character comes because Osterberg slopes slightly to the east rather than to the south, while the heavy and calcareous marl soils keep protects the acids during the ripening process.

2007 Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Osterberg from Louis Sipp in Ribeauvillé is green shimmering in golden yellow. The scent is fresh and it has exciting aromas of cured ham, lavender, honey and grated ginger. The taste is very mellow with a velvety mouth feel, and tight and almost harsh acid that provide energy to balance a natural sweetness. The aftertaste has a lot of salinity, a trait that will become more and more prominent with age. Price: 20 €.

2004 Riesling Grand Cru Altenberg de Bergbieten, Roland Schmitt

It's fascinating when wines, with age, attain the aroma and flavor of a completely different type of wine from a completely different place. This Riesling can easily be mistaken for a great Chablis Grand Cru. The combination of minerality, acidity and focus reminds me of the sheer power of the great vineyards Les Clos and Bougros. But maybe this is logical since is the soil of Altenberg de Bergbieten is heavy, full of lime and barely warm enough.

2004 Riesling Grand Cru Altenberg de Bergbieten from Roland Schmitt is golden yellow. The fragrance is overflowing of acacia, orange flowers, wet flint and one hint of green bananas. The taste is dry, powerful, rich and complex with a dominant minerality, grippy acids and an infinite and clear aftertaste. Dazzling. Surprising! Price (as of 2012): € 14.

2009 Muscat Grand Cru Zinnkoepflé, Seppi Landmann

Seppi Landmann is a producer with a passion for wine and wine as a carrier of culture. Not only does he have plantings of Muscat on his best terroir, for the harvest in the weekends he invites friends, auto workers from Toulouse, Swedish wine tourists and others who want to spend a pleasant but tiring day on the steep and sunny slopes of Zinnkoepflé. For lunch soup, rich stories and laughter are served.

2009 Muscat Grand Cru Zinnkoepflé from Seppi Landmann in Soulzmatt has a bright golden yellow color. The aroma is rich and composed of orange, melon, almond and white flowers. The flavor is wonderfully elegant, complex and dry with layers of fruit and lively acids in a featherweight body. A wine full of character that illustrates Seppis great skill and delicate touch. Price: € 12 (au primeur).

2007 Riesling Grand Cru Froehn, Becker

Grand Cru Froehn covers some  14 hectares, and with an average yield of 50 hectoliters per hectare, it should - given that a sizable portion of wine from a Grand Cru is not sold as Grand Cru - be made ​​about 60 000 bottles of Grand Cru Froehn. Who makes them? There are only six Vignerons Independants that make Grand Cru Froehn, as well as two cooperativ, Beblenheim and Hunawihr. Where do they go? No, what Froehn needs are more producers that, just as Becker, emphasize  and develop this terroir.

2007 Riesling Grand Cru Froehn from Becker in Zellenberg has an expressive and sweet smell that includes pineapple, milk chocolate and raspberries. The taste is medium bodied and very dry with good intensity, acids leaning towards lemon and a fairly long finish. Very sympathetic! Price: € 12.80.

2009 Riesling Grand Cru Sommerberg Jeunes Vignes, Albert Boxler

There is a magician in Niedermorschwihr. His name is Jean Boxler, the grandson of Albert, who founded the firm. Jean Boxler wielding his wand - baguette in French - of Grand Cru Sommerberg which rises with a slope of 45 degrees near the village, like the Grand Cru Brand. Brand is an amphitheater that slopes down to Colmar. All wines, regardless of grape variety or quality level, is top class in its category.

2009 Riesling Grand Cru Sommerberg Jeunes Vignes from Albert Boxler is glistening golden yellow. The aroma is rich and ripe with apple pie and a hint of botrytis (?) which gives complexity (ethyl acetate). The taste is medium bodied, fresh and rich with good acidity, nice minerality and a hint of heat, so typical of the vintage. The finish is long and vibrant. A wine that is a bit more accessible than the firm's flagships "D", "E" and "K". Price: €17.

2007 Riesling Grand Cru Brand, Stirn

It is easy to appreciate when the flavor of a wine matches the aromas. As in a good Chablis, where the smoky aroma of flint and herbs, seamlessly are captured by a taste that is clean, hard, uncompromising and ... absolutely gorgeous. But Alsace offers a lot more surprises, where aromas and flavors may seem to come from different worlds.

2007 Riesling Grand Cru Brand from Stirn in Sigolsheim has huge but focused aromas of chocolate, honey, lilac, clementines and arrack. The taste, however, is tight, perfectly balanced with rich and silky fruit that expand into a firm and elegant minerality. A perfect illustration of how the vines on Brans receive sun and heat through the canopy, while the roots seek nourishment and survival deep in a fragile granite. Price: € 12.

2000 Gewurztraminer Comte d'Eguisheim, Léon Beyer

Léon Beyer makes super-dry wines that are almost undrinkable in its first 4-5 years. But the domaine has the good taste to wait to release the wines until the young wine has filled out and gained substance and character. The ugly duckling, sort of.

2000 Gewurztraminer Comte d'Eguisheim from Léon Beyer has grown on Grand Cru Eichberg and has a golden yellow color. The aroma is saturated with ginger, cloves, figs, quince marmalade, expensive vanilla and candied oranges. The taste is almost completely dry, but layers of fruit unfold as a peacock tail in the mouth, offering one sensation after the other. The finish is long, fresh and subtle with a nice minerality that lingers on forever. A magical wine, a privilege to drink it. Price: € 30.

2007 Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Pfersigberg, Odile Weber

Odile is an important name in Alsace since Sainte Odile is the patron saint of Alsace. She was born blind in 662 A.D., as the daughter of her cruel father Etichon, Duke of Alsace. During her time on earth she managed to bring back her brother from the dead, regain her own sight through prayers and make her father build a monastery in Hohwald close to Andlau, southwest of Strasbourg. Odile was canonized 1807.

2007 Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Pfersigberg 2007 by Odile Weber in Eguisheim offers a fresh nose with lilac, minerals, ripe stone fruits and honey. The taste is medium bodied and elegant with savoury fruit, supported by high acidity and a minerality typical of the terroir. Really good! Price: € 12.