Live tasting with winemakers from Alsace

Today, a desired travel destination comes very close. At the biennial Millésimes Alsace trade fair, we stand face to face with famous names from the French wine region. The mix of languages we speak and the local wine we drink complete the foreign feeling. And all online! -TEXT MARJOLEIN SCHUMAN

Millésimes Alsace 2021

How fun is this: wine tasting with producers from Alsace (Alsace). Prior to the international trade fair, which this year has been renamed 'digitasting', we were able to request four tasting bottles of vin d'Alsace from our favourites each time. An extra set of wines was included as a surprise, because of course that is what an event like this is always for: discovering new flavours from the region. We have chosen to meet three winemakers already represented in the Netherlands, so that you, the WINELIFE readers, can also find out for yourselves what makes their Alsace wines special.

Bonjour Nicolas Haeffelin

Nicolas is in the vineyard and in good spirits, despite the chilly weather there. When we tell him we would like to taste the 2008 Gewürztraminer with him, he tells us that when he got up at 5 o'clock this morning instead of coffee, he already had a glass. Excellent breakfast wine! As an oenologist at Maison Arthur Metz, he advises cellar masters of different sub-areas on the different markets in Europe. Because the flavour profile of a Pinot Blanc for Swedes, is just different from that for Spaniards. Arthur Metz has become mega-sized and a major player in Alsace through all kinds of mergers. It produces several tens of millions of bottles a year, and more than a quarter of these are the famous sparkling wine Crémant d'Alsace.

Typical wines of Alsace

Nicolas shows us the slopes of the Florimont Grand Cru with his camera and in the background in the distance we can see the town of Colmar, albeit in mist - and all the while we are sitting in the sun. The soil is limestone and clay and most of the vines are gewürztraminer, closely followed by riesling. These are also immediately the two grapes Nicolas, when asked, would describe as typical of Alsace. You could pick them out at a blind wine tasting in Japan.
ARTHUR METZ CREMANT D'ALSACE BRUT 75 CL | DIRCKIII.CO.UK | €7.99 ARTHUR METZ BIO GEWURZTRAMINER 2013 | THEWINEILOVE.COM | €11

Bonjour Laure Adam

We then talk to Laure Adam who looks young but clearly has wine coursing through her veins. Laure: 'Wine is alive, and that is so beautiful!' She also likes to talk about it. In total, she has 40 appointments scheduled these days and this morning she already spoke to Japan. Located on the Alsace wine route, in wine town Ammerschwihr, Domaine Jean Baptiste Adam is one of Alsace's best-known and oldest wineries. The family has been making wine for 400 years. Laure explains that her husband goes into the vineyard every day to check the grapes, as they work biodynamically so it is not a question of 'laisser-faire'. Is everything still going well? Are the grapes healthy? Special plants in the vineyard and home-made preparations should prevent disease from affecting the vines. And the compost is local, from animals in the area!

15th generation at the helm

We taste a Riesling from the Grand Cru Kaefferkopf. It is the youngest Grand Cru in Alsace, Laure tells us, from 2007, and named after the head of a beetle because the shape of the hill is a bit like that. Wines from this beetle's head give a high expression of the terroir. The granite makes for a delicate Riesling, not too sweet and not too rich, with plenty of acidity. When you then also use only old vines and grapes from the 2017 vintage, which Laure says was perfect in Alsace, you get a top wine.
ADAM RIESLING GRAND CRU KAEFFERKOPF VIEILLES VIGNE 2017 | GALL&GALL | €27.99

Bonjour Aura Meyer

We travel on to the valley of Katzenthal, which was already inhabited in prehistoric and Roman times. Its wine history certainly dates back to the year 1000. Here lies the 18-hectare Meyer-Fonné family estate. We speak to Aura Meyer but, at first still in the background and later increasingly enthusiastic, Félix Meyer eventually takes over the conversation. In their company, the tasks are fortunately well divided, they tell us when asked. Aura is of the papers and Félix of the grapes, to put it briefly.

Patchwork of terroirs

A patchwork of different soils gives Félix the advantage of being able to cultivate each grape variety on the right terroir. We feel like tasting another classy Riesling from the tasting pack and open that from the Grand Cru Wineck Schlossberg (but you can buy the Pinot Blanc for as little as €9.50). According to Félix, the DNA of Alsace is l'aromatique. And while the style remains dry, this Riesling is a testament to that aromaticism: from the glass, the scent of fruit opens up like an explosion. Minerals from the limestone and acidity from the fruit balance the wine. RIESLING GRAND CRU WINECK-SCHLOSSBERG 2018 DOMAINE MEYER-FONNÉ | COLARIS.CO.UK | €27.50

Programme for learning and entertainment

During these 3 days of the trade fair, all attendees will also have access to specially created content available in three languages. Be sure to check out tomorrow's conference on new consumer trends, which will feature the likes of World's Best Sommelier 2019 Marc Almert and US television presenter and sommelier Matthew Kaner.

Even though the people we speak to say they miss the live contact - they hope to see us again in France next edition - this online version of the trade fair works beyond expectations. We really are 'at home' for a while with the winemakers and with Nicolas Haeffelin even visiting the vineyard, where he gives us a 360-degree tour with the city of Colmar far away in the background. See you soon, France!

Don't want to miss a single edition? Subscribe then subscribe to Winelife Magazine now!

Want to stay up to date with the best articles? Follow Winelife magazine on Instagram, Facebook and sign up for our fortnightly newsletter.