Lucien Albrecht Crémant d’Alsace - Offering Both Quality and Value

Americans have have a hard time relating to historical significance as our country is not even 250 years old with the Columbus voyage just 525 years ago.  Yet, almost 600 years ago -- in 1425 -- Romanus Albrecht started producing wine that would eventually evolve into one of Alsace's famous brands: Lucien Albrecht. The current winery traces its heritage to Balthazar Albrecht, who in 1698, settles in Orschwihr after the end of the Thirty Years’ War and cultivates vines. After the phylloxera epidemic and Alsace's return to France post WWI, Henri Albrecht replants vineyards by grafting rootstock to the vines and his success leads to Lucien Albrecht and Crémant d’Alsace. Albrecht leveraged the the work of Julien Dopff and began test productions of sparkling wines in 1971. Five years later the official AOC Crémant d’Alsace designation of origin is established mandating that the sparkling wine be made in the méthode champenoise style and using Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Auxerrois and Chardonnay grapes. Lucien Albrecht is considered as being one of the three founding fathers of the regulated Crémant d’Alsace". These sparkling wines offer outstanding quality at generally lower prices as Champagne.

Lucien Albrecht Crémant d’Alsace Brut ($23)
The grapes for this sparkling wine starts a few days earlier than the harvest for the still wines and the
50% Pinot Blanc and 50% Auxerrois blend are handpicked and are whole cluster pressed. The base wine is fermented completely dry and is usually 8.5% alcohol before dosage and the second fermentation. This process is allowed to finalize after about 18 months which results in perhaps less effervescence but abundant freshness. Besides the ripe stone fruit characters the strength of this wine is in its structure.  There's texture and body, less bready, with a fresh finale. Cheers and great SRP. 

#WineStudio – Tanaro River Imports & Florian Beck-Hartweg

January's online session of #Winestudio features George Tita of Tanaro River Imports, which specializing in small producers in northern Italy and France. This month will feature a few of Tanaro's wines made by young winemakers who have maintained the traditional of their forefathers. One of these “young turks” is Florian Beck-Hartweg, who along with his wife Mathilde, are the fourteenth generation to work the family vineyards in Alsace. These vineyards are situated in northern Alsace near the village of Dambach-la-Ville.

Old traditions are followed as Florian utilizes century old oak casks to ferment and age the wine; natural yeast for fermentation; and only adding a small quantity of sulphur dioxide for preservation. Furthermore Beck-Hartweg stresses a spirit of cooperation with nature as depicted in their logo and imprinted on some of their corks. The logo shows a flower with a bee, which represents the wild green cover that is allowed to grow in their vineyards. This cover crop includes flowers which attract insects -- encouraging biodiversity. The particular bee drawn on the logo is a predator of the grape worm, which allows the winery to avoid the use of insecticides.

Beck-Hartweg's most famous wines are the Frankstein Grand Cru, but in this tasting we sampled a Riesling and Pinot Gris from their Prestige brand. These grapes are harvested from the same Frankstein vineyards; they are just located on opposite slopes with different sun exposures. Yet they all share the same granite mineral rich soil. The wines are also stamped with a Vigneron Indépendant label which designates that Florian Beck-Hartweg operates all phases of the wine's production from the viticulture to harvest to wine making to bottling.  Now that's hand crafted.


2011 Pinot Gris “Prestige” Beck-Hartweg ($20, 12.5%) - this is a mineral driven wine as the light citrus flavors are overshadowed by creamy minerals with solid acidic backbone. If you think of Pinot Gris as boring (like I used to) then try this wine; it will change your perception of the grape.

2012 Riesling Cuvée “Prestige” Beck-Hartweg ($20, 12.5%)- this is an acid driven wine with floral and light citrus flavors mingling with honey and nuts. There is a solid textured body and a long, long finish.  Well done.

One entertaining note is that Beck-Hartweg recommends serving the Riesling Cuvée with sauerkraut. I mimicked that pairing and for my tastes determined that the Pinot Gris was actually a better partner as it coated and dampened the sourness On the other hand the Riesling seemed to blend and extend the sour flavors. Nevertheless an interesting pairing.

On Tuesday January 19, #Winestudio will move into northern Italy with Dolcetto and Barbera. Join the conversation.

More #SummerOfRiesling on #Winechat: Paul Blanck Riesling Grand Cru Schlossberg 2010

This past Wednesday I participated in the weekly Twitter #winechat session which focused on Riesling and specifically the now unified Riesling core of France (Alsace),  Germany (Rheingau), and Austria (Kamptal). The session was sponsored by drinkAlsace, Wines of Germany US, and Austrian Wine USA with each contributing a wine from their region: the Paul Blanck Riesling Grand Cru Schlossberg 2010 from Alsace, the Brandl Riesling Heilingenstein 2011 from Kamptal and the Schloss Schönborn Riesling Kabinett Erbacher Macrobrunn 2011 from Rheingau. I was fortunate to receive the first and learned several new facts about Alsace and the Schlossberg Vineyard. Alsace is located on the French-German border and has been governed by both countries over the centuries. The current border results from the aftermath of WWII with France gaining more territory so that Alsace lies between the Vosges Mountains to the west and the Rhine River to the east. As a quirk of this history, there are some German wineries whose vineyards are still located in Alsace (See Friedrich Becker Family). Alsace is also dry, the 2nd driest region in all of France. Riesling is the most widely planted grape in Alsace w/ nearly 22% of land under Riesling vines; and Alsace accounts for 10% of the World's Riesling production.

One if the highest prized Riesling sources is the Schlossberg Vineyard, which is the oldest and largest of Alsace’s 51 Grand Cru sites. The site lies on south-facing slopes stretching from Kaysersberg to Kientzheim and it's granite soils create elegant and floral Rieslings that are prized for their ability to age. The slopes are steep, so many vines require terraces.

One winery that utilizes Schlossberg is Domaine Paul Blanck. This estate traces its history to the 17th century and today is owned and operated by Philippe & Frédéric Blanck. According to several sources, the winery is known for producing wines that are "balanced, terroir-expressive, and versatile".  And after tasting the
Paul Blanck Riesling Grand Cru Schlossberg 2010 ($34), I can agree with that assessment. The aroma leads with a breathe of fresh mint that is followed by lemon creamsicle on the palette. There's plenty of cream and depth in this Riesling. The wine then finished with silky effervescent acidity that holds for quite a while.  This is a very nice wine, highly recommended. Cheers.