Alsace: France's Most Aromatic, and Most Misread, Wine Region

The Alsatian vineyard landscape at Domaine Marcel Deiss — Alsace, through the vineyards of Domaine Marcel Deiss.

Alsace has been part of France, then Germany, then France again over the past two centuries, and the wines reflect that divided history. The grape varieties are Germanic, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, but the style is French: fuller, riper, and drier than their German counterparts. This dual identity confuses buyers, who aren't sure whether to expect France or Germany and end up avoiding the category entirely. That's their loss.

In Alsace, the vine and the winemaker have been talking to each other for so long that the wine arrives in the glass already knowing what it wants to say.

Neither French nor German, and better for it

Alsace produces some of the most aromatic and complex white wines in the world, wines that take the Germanic precision of the grape varieties and give them French weight and breadth. The result is unlike anything made on either side of the Rhine. People who navigate the dual-identity confusion find one of wine's most rewarding corners.

Why Marcel Deiss is different

Jean-Michel Deiss began farming biodynamically in the 1980s before it had marketing value. He also revived the historical Alsatian practice of field blends: growing multiple varieties together and harvesting them at the same time. The argument: Alsace's great terroirs express themselves differently from year to year, and blending at vineyard level produces a more accurate portrait of the place.

The terroir that makes Alsace taste the way it does

Alsace is the driest wine region in France, protected from Atlantic rain by the Vosges mountains, giving over 1,800 hours of sunshine a year. The soils are extraordinarily diverse: granite, limestone, clay, sandstone, volcanic rock. The Deiss estate in Bergheim sits on volcanic and limestone soils that give the wines their combination of floral aromatics and mineral freshness.

Alsace and the Dutch dinner table

Alsatian wines have historically been well-received in the Netherlands, fuller body, aromatic richness, accessibility compared to Burgundy. Riesling from Alsace is specifically one of the best matches for Indonesian and Thai food in the entire wine world, which is a very useful quality if you're eating in the Netherlands.