These were my 18 favourites savoured at a tasting in Dublin a few months ago - you'll find more details of this in a couple of earlier posts putting the spotlight on the Alsace region: Pinot Noir & Crémant, and Riesling. Logically, the focus here is on the number two and three of Alsace varieties (after Riesling), Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris.
'Logically' simply because those who know Alsace wines, would probably associate the region best with these two grapes; and those who don't are more likely to come across them in any wine outlet. The problem with these two styles, or rather the labelling, has been a lack of clarity about whether the wine is dry or not, whatever the price or quality.
But since 2021, 'a standardised legal sweetness guide is required on all bottles of wine registered as AOC,' as the Vins Alsace blurb explains. I'll spare you the complicated technical parameters, which specify bands of residual sugar levels but also related to the wine's acidity content.
So, the label should clearly say dry, off-dry or medium-dry, medium-sweet or sweet. This should be helpful for wine drinkers previously confused about how dry or sweet an Alsace white might be when buying a bottle. Gewurz and Pinot Gris styles were arguably always the most unpredictable.
Joseph Cattin
2024 Pinot Gris 'Orange' (13% abv, medium-dry): Not very orange in colour but the skin-maceration styling adds appealing aromatic grapey and citrus peel notes, not so medium in flavour because of nice balancing bite and bitter twist on the finish. Different for PG. €22 Boutique Wines, £18 UK.
Gewurztraminer Reserve 2024 (12.5%, sweet): Luscious Gewurztraminer characters, concentrated with nice depth, fairly sweet although there's some freshness there too. €23 (Tap photo at top to visit their site.)
Domaine Bruno Sorg 2024 Pinot Gris (12.5%, dry): Quite juicy and fresh in style, zippy and gummy texture with crisp bite to finish. Good in an unexpected way. €21.50 frenchwines.ie, £21-£23 UK.
Domaine Pierre Henri Ginglinger
2024 Pinot Gris (13.5%, dry): Fuller more traditional style of PG but it's dry and crisp, attractive honeyed fruit, fairly easy-going. €23 The Wine Buff.
2024 Gewurztraminer (12.5%, medium-dry): Rich lychee and rose water aromas, distinctive Gewurz style with a touch of sweetness; well made, perhaps would be better drier. €25
2024 Pinot Gris Tradition (13%, medium-dry): Quite tasty and elegant, off-dry palate, nice style and concentrated too. €23 Whelehan's Wines. €11.50 cellar door.
2023 Gewurztraminer Tradition (13%, medium-dry): Lush and concentrated lychee, pineapple and rose water notes, rich yet balanced and well-textured, just a tad of residual sweetness but with nice freshness still too. Very good. €23
Photo: Stéphane et Mickaël Moltès.
Alliance Alsace (Cave de Turckheim)
2024 Tradition Pinot Gris (13%, dry): Pretty classic style, rich and honeyed vs zippy freshness, well made. Widely available. £12-£15 UK.
Gewurztraminer Tradition 2024 (13% abv, medium-dry): Lots of flavour, off-dry to medium taste with plenty of classic lychees and spice etc. flavours. £15 UK.
Domaine Gresser
2023 Pinot Gris Lieu-Dit Brandhof (13%, dry): A tad sulphury to start? Lots of yeast-lees characters for sure, rich and toasty with honeyed fruit, pretty intense and powerful in the end, yet still tastes quite young thanks to that 'reductive' winemaking. €29 Whelehan's Wines.
2022 Gewurztraminer 'Orange Nature' (14%, dry): Wacky wine, very orange indeed with aromatic citrus peel tones and crisp steely mouthfeel, zesty yet powerful and rounded. Wow! €39
Domaines Schlumberger 2022 Pinot Gris Les Princes Abbés (13.5%, medium-dry): Lush and honeyed, very ripe pear and quince jam notes, powerful mouthfeel with some freshness buried underneath; impressive although a little too much residual sugar for me? (11.3 gr/l according to their website, although acidity level isn't high). €30 Searsons Wine Merchants, £20 UK, €16 cellar door.
Arthur Metz Gewurztraminer 2025 (13.5%, medium-dry): Zesty and 'gummy' texture, attractive and quite classic off-dry style, fairly full and rounded palate. €12-€14 Dunnes Stores. £14-£15 UK.
Famille Hugel 2023 Gewurztraminer (14%, dry)): Powerful and rich while quite dry and tightly structured style actually, big and concentrated mouthful with lingering and subdued Gewurz exotic-spice flavours. Very good. €26 O'Briens, The Vintry, Fallon & Byrne, Whelehans.
Bestheim 2023 Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Mambourg (12%, medium-sweet): Lush, pure Gewurz aromas and flavours, quite sweet palate yet 'gummy' and tightly structured, concentrated lingering finish. Very good. €13.50 cellar door.
Trimbach
2022 Classic Gewurztraminer (14.5%, medium-dry): Still very aromatic and zesty despite that bit of age, seems quite dry because of the underlying crispness vs weighty with lots of lovely grapey lychee flavours. As you'd expect from Trimbach. €27-€30 O'Briens, 64 Wines.
2018 Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives (14.5%, sweet): Totally delicious, lush and sweet vs structured style, so sweet yet so powerful! Superb. UK £30-£40 half-bottle.
Sipp Mack 2018 Gewurztraminer Vieilles Vignes (13.5%, sweet): Wow, what a wine. Concentrated and exotic with classic Gewurz styling, has real depth and class. Excellent. €16 cellar door. €27/£19 Mitchell & Sons.
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