Why aren’t Wines of Alsace more sought after in the USA. This video will shed some light on the question.
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Todays Guest – Kevin Day
Editor-in-Chief at openingabottle.com
His focus is primarily on European wines, with a lean toward Italian and French wine. Not only does Kevin drink and evaluate these wines but he also travels to the regions. He gets to know the winemakers, their processes and why they do what they do. Then he shares this with all of us.
Photos in this video were provided by Kevin Day at openingabottle.com
Kevin one of the things when I asked the question about it being kind of this tourist location uh was because when you think about the white wines of France you don’t really you know at least not on the top of the list or the top few all sauce isn’t mentioned but I think
You know as I’ve explored and gotten into this region the the wines that are made here are are stunning I mean I have really enjoyed what I’ve had from this area and they’re not you know some people might hear reing they they may europeo gree but but it’s different in
This region than the expressions of these wines I’ve had in other places yeah let’s talk a little bit about that because I think there’s a lot of uh confusion about alas on the market that um you know we may as well just get out
Of the way I mean I think this is partly why we don’t hear a whole lot of talk in the United States about alas uh in within France it’s very highly regarded uh and and a lot of the wines that are uh you know sold within are just sold
Domestically uh in alsas and then also they have a very strong presence in Germany and a lot of the neighboring countries around there um but as it relates to to alzas and to uh you know why United States Market is maybe a little bit of a trickier proposition there’s a few factors to
That and I think some of it starts in with the bottle to be honest we have this uh this bottle shape that they that they make their Wines in which I think a lot of people still have kind of a precon ceed the idea that this is a
Sweet wine just because of the shape of the bottle which is misleading it’s not true I mean obviously uh you know the shape of a bottle does determine you know we’re familiar with Bordeaux and burgundy bottles you’ll have one will be Cabernet one will be P Noir so there is
Something you can tell about the shape of a bottle but in the case of you know this bottle which is known as the the hawk bottle it’s a traditional bottle that was used uh because it was really saved on Space they could they could pack it in tightly ship it on boats and
Uh it was durable enough that it could survive the journey they didn’t need to put a punt in the bottom of the of the bottle because the you know passage on Rivers was smooth enough it wasn’t going over bumpy roads where the bottles might break so it has a history it’s
Traditional and they’re proud of that bottle but it’s also you know it’s kind of created people associate it with German wines and then they have this association with German wines being sweet which is not always the case there’s plenty of great German dry Wines in fact they’re getting drier and drier
With each vintage um so that’s one little misconception think that holds back um the availability of alaan wines in America for us um you know I think another thing is these tall bottles they’re a little bit hard to fit in the refrigerator you know if I’ve got a pet
Peeve about them uh it’s you know I’m the type of guy who likes to put a cork into a wine and taste it the next night I don’t like to drink a whole lot you know or just go through a whole bottle in one night I kind of want to see what
How it evolves and boy you you take this tall bottle and then you you put a cork in it and the pork cork is sticking out a little bit you know you can’t get it to fit on the milk shelf uh on your refrigerator for the next night and then
On top of that you know in a wine refrigerator um they’re usually the the bottles that have to be kind of just jimmied into place so that the door actually closes so you know there’s a again none of that has anything to do with the quality of the wine none of it
Does um but I do think people see that bottle right away and their mind goes to maybe it not being like a shab or being on the same level of quality as some of these other things which is unfortunate uh because these wines really are of
High quality I think the other thing too is I mean we may as well get you know another um elephant in the room addressed which is the grape varieties that they use reing Peno Greek gtz drumer and I think people think reing they think sweet again uh there’s a lot
Of people who who just they can’t get into reing for whatever reason um some of that is uh they’re not exposed to higher quality reasing some of it is that they had a sweet reeling years ago and they just didn’t want to come back to that experience um some people
Associate it with the the the petroleum jelly Vaseline Aroma that you sometimes get with an older reing uh particularly like a German reing these alian reings tend to not have that note it can show up a little bit but you know so so there’s a little bit of like a I don’t
Want to call it a stigma about reing but there’s it’s just it’s not the same as as Savon Blanc or Chardon in terms of people just really enthusiastically embracing it and then P gree same grape as pinogregio and we know there’s always kind of a battle with pinio because
People think of you know a lot of those Northern Italian penos that are just very and flimsy and unsubstantial and I tell you penree from allas is anything but that it’s this is the place for Pino gree in the world I mean really the top terroir um because of of the the
Richness that you can get the complexity um it’s really a stellar grape but it’s also this version of Pino gree is not familiar to people and so it may not be an immediately obvious pairing uh or to a context or to an occasion and then
Last GT strumer I mean this is kind of the third big grape in and that’s a divisive grape I mean it’s one of the most assertive grape varieties in terms of flavor in terms of its profile it can be very high in alcohol it can be kind of Rich it can be
Spicy it can be floral it can taste like you’re you know eating a bag of popery you know in some cases so so some people are just kind of turned off by the grape varieties from the start unfortunately and this being one of the only places in France where they do varietal labeling
The varietal is screaming at you when you buy the bottle so you know those are some of the reasons why I think maybe the impression of alluce in America isn’t really up to what uh what we see when we visit alluce and we taste some of the really great wines from there or
When we encounter one of the great wines here in America uh it just all depends it’s it’s a little bit of um you know there’s just a little bit of uh education that people need about uh about alsas and and what this place has to offer and how to how to navigate these
Wines let me ask you this is it uh a little bit with distribution as well you know I I think about a couple of brands that I see you know almost everywhere uh as far as in a big box wine store you know something like that um but I don’t see a
Lot of variety or or different producers when it comes to all sauce and so it’s kind of that chicken in the egg right uh do we do we have vicious cycle for sure yeah I mean I’ve I’ve talked to importers before and said you know boy I
Love this producer here but they’re just not imported you should guys should go go chase them and they go yeah it’s just so hard with alas you know they they kind of already they they’re going straight to how do I get this client to put alsan wine on their menu because
Then their SS have to then sell it at the table or how do I get it is it going to move on the Shelf so honestly what we’re drinking first here a kont alas is often a starting point for importers they’ll bring in a kont alas uh because
It’s it doesn’t have this you know it just plays by its own rules it’s a sparkling wine it’s kont alas well what’s that you know that that gets people a little bit more Curious right away and they can kind of test the waters with that in the market and for
Folks who are listening who may not know what a cremont is go ahead and tell them what this is sure yeah yeah kant’s a traditional method sparkling wine so think of a champagne style wine in terms of it’s being made um with a secondary fermentation occurring in the bottle uh
But it’s using alaan grapes so Peno Blanc is kind of the lead grape oftentimes uh but you’ll find some reeling and some penino gree in there you’ll find some Chardonnay sometimes and if it’s a if it’s a version and it’s it’s entirely P Noir so uh you know kont
Can be kind of a good stepping stone kind of a good entry point into alation one in terms of getting a sense for the level of quality here so I was kind of talking about some of the negative things uh you know about impressions of
Alas but I wanted to kind of also say you know you know we we do have some good news to kind of spread about it like some of the reasons why you should pursue alsas so even though it may not have it may require a little bit of
Hunting it’s worth the hunt and here’s why I think I think part of it is the wine making Heritage here is extremely long it’s not uncommon to come across a wine maker who is not just fifth or sixth generation wine maker they’re 10 12 even 13th generation wine maker wow
Which is just stunning so there’s a there’s kind of a in the DNA of alian wine making is a long history of what works what doesn’t um of understanding and also having really high stakes for preserving that Legacy into the future so the quality is really really high
Because of that and another reason the quality is very high is this is a region that’s massively committed to organic and biodynamic viticulture uh The Vineyards are in really tiptop shape in alas especially the hillsides especially the gron crew Vineyards uh I think 15% of production is organic or biodynamic
Which is pretty high um they’ve got a climate that can allow them to to really go full for uh full force into that that realm and not have to you know treat for things like down mildew in an emergency so it’s a little bit easier for them in
Their climate um but the wines that make it to the US market uh because they tend to be you know the cherry-picked wines that will actually really move those are the percentage of those that are organic or biodynamic is much higher um so that’s that’s another thing that we can kind of
Celebrate with alian wines um you know moving on with that I mean there’s also just a tremendous amount of variety to the vineyard sites so if you’re interested in Terre and you’re you know you’re you’re you’re in the door with one of these grape varieties you’re going to find so many different versions
Of that wine from all these other producers and so it kind of like with me I got hooked you know I just kind of wanted to taste you know the next gr Cru cider I wanted to see what this person’s version was like um and then on top of
That these wines can be very food friendly you can really I mean reing is amazing with with sushi with all sorts of other types of um you know even spicy foods it can be great if it’s a little bit more of a richer style I mean not
Super spicy but just with a little bit of spice so you know you can work with them quite well