Let’s hear it for Alsace wines
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With so much variety and character on offer, why are Alsace wines so undervalued in the UK?. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. When you’re on a wine press trip, you can spend your day drinking a lot of the same style of wine, and scribble something down only when something truly stands out. In Alsace recently, however, I made notes on nearly every single wine I tasted.
![[Hannah Crosbie]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2024/12/18/Hannah_Crosbie.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The character, imagination and sheer variety of Alsace wine is undeniable, but I often feel that it’s a little under-loved in the UK compared with the other French regions. It’s a middle child, caught somewhere between the overachieving eldest (Bordeaux and Burgundy) and the exciting, trendy youngest (Auvergne and Corsica). It doesn’t help that 74% of the region’s total output is consumed in France itself.
Before we delve into the wines themselves, a short bottled history. As far back as the 2nd century, the area was identified for its favourable grape-growing conditions: low rainfall and steep, sunny slopes protected by the Vosges mountains. In the centuries that followed, the region’s “golden age”, Alsace rivalled Bordeaux in terms of wine-producing area and quantity. Then the Thirty Years’ War desolated the vineyards and the population – the commune of Bergheim, for example, plummeted from 2,600 inhabitants to just 20. The region was later twice annexed by the Germans, whose vision for its wine was based on only four varieties: riesling, muscat, pinot gris and gewürztraminer.
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